Synchronization protocol for multi-premises hosting of digital content items

ABSTRACT

A synchronization protocol for multi-premises hosting of digital content items. In one embodiment, for example, a method comprises the operations of: detecting creation or modification of a content item; determining a content item namespace to which the content item belongs; obtaining a plurality of identifiers of a plurality of block servers to which the content item namespace is assigned; making a selection of one of the plurality of block servers as a target block server; and uploading any content item blocks of the content item to the target block server that are not already stored at the target block server.

PRIORITY CLAIM

This application claims the benefit of Provisional Appln. 62/248,085,filed Oct. 29, 2015, the entire contents of which is hereby incorporatedby reference as if fully set forth herein, under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e).

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present Application relates to management of digital content items.More specifically, the example embodiment(s) of the present inventiondescribed below relate to the management of digital content items hostedwith an online content management service.

BACKGROUND

Traditionally, businesses have stored their digital content items (e.g.,documents, files, and other digital information) on network file serversthey own and operate. Such file servers are typically locatedon-premises behind a network firewall that prevent unauthorized networkaccess to the file servers. This arrangement works well when most or allof the network access to the file server is by computers that are alsobehind the network firewall such as, for example, connected to the sameLocal Area Network (LAN) as the file server. In some cases, networkaccess to the file server from outside the firewall (e.g., over theInternet) is facilitated by a Virtual Private Network (VPN). The VPN, ineffect, makes a computer outside the firewall appear to the file serveras if it is behind the firewall.

Today, however, the workforce is more global and more mobile. This isspurred, in large part, by the wide availability of broadband Internetconnectivity and also the availability of relatively inexpensive, yetpowerful, portable personal computing devices such as, for example,mobile phones, laptop computers, and tablet computers. The result isemployees can work virtually anywhere and do not need to be physicallypresent in the office to get their work done (e.g., they can workremotely).

Recently, online content management services have become available forstoring content items “online” where they are accessible on the Internetor other network. A business can use an online content managementservice to “host” their content items on servers operated by theservice. One example of an online content management service is the“Dropbox” service provided by Dropbox, Inc. of San Francisco, Calif.

Online storage of content items can provide a number of benefits tobusinesses and their employees alike. Dropbox, for instance, offers theability to synchronize and share hosted content items among multipledevices and users. This flexibility, which stems from storing contentitems both at end-user devices and on Dropbox servers, supports avariety of different on-site and remote working arrangements, providingconvenience to employees and increased employee productivity foremployers.

Given the increasing amount of digital information generated bybusinesses, hosting of content items by businesses with online contentmanagement services can only be expected to increase. However, due tothe sensitive nature of some of the hosted information, users of suchservices, including business users, would appreciate improvements to theservices that provide a greater level of control over the content itemsthey host with the services. In addition, while broadband Internetconnectivity is pervasive among businesses today, uploading anddownloading content items over the Internet can still take longer thanusers expect or desire.

The approaches described in this section are approaches that could bepursued, but not necessarily approaches that have been previouslyconceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, it shouldnot be assumed that any of the approaches described in this sectionqualify as prior art merely by virtue of their inclusion in thissection.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The example embodiment(s) of the present invention are illustrated byway of example, and not in way by limitation, in the figures of theaccompanying drawings and in which like reference numerals refer tosimilar elements and in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example system environment in which someexample embodiments of the present invention are implemented.

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram of a process for uploading a content item to atarget block server, according to some example embodiments of thepresent invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of user account and content item namespacemetadata, according to some example embodiments of the presentinvention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a content item server journal, according tosome example embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an interaction diagram of uploading a content item to anoff-premises block server, according to some example embodiments of thepresent invention.

FIG. 6 is an interaction diagram of uploading a content item to anon-premises block server, according to some example embodiments of thepresent invention.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram of a process for downloading a content itemfrom a target block server, according to some example embodiments of thepresent invention.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of linked device metadata, according to someexample embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is an interaction diagram of downloading a content item from ablock server, according to some example embodiments of the presentinvention.

FIG. 10 is a flow diagram of a process for uploading a content item to atarget block server, according to some example embodiments of thepresent invention.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram of a content item server journal, accordingto some example embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is an interaction diagram of uploading a content item to anoff-premises block server, according to some example embodiments of thepresent invention.

FIG. 13 is an interaction diagram of uploading a content item to anon-premises block server, according to some example embodiments of thepresent invention.

FIG. 14 is a flow diagram of a process for downloading a content itemfrom a target block server, according to some example embodiments of thepresent invention.

FIG. 15 is an interaction diagram of downloading a content item from atarget block server, according to some example embodiments of thepresent invention.

FIG. 16 is a flow diagram of a process for discovering peer personalcomputing devices, according to some example embodiments of the presentinvention.

FIG. 17 is a block diagram of a peer download advertisement, accordingto some example embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 18 is a block diagram of a peer devices table, according to someexample embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 19 is a flow diagram of a process for peer-to-peer download ofmissing content item blocks, according to some example embodiments ofthe present invention.

FIG. 20 is a block diagram of an example system environment in whichsome example embodiments of the present invention are implemented.

FIG. 21 is a block diagram of content item block replication metadata,according to some example embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 22 is a block diagram of a content item server journal, accordingto some example embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 23 is a block diagram of a content item block replication log,according to some example embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 24 is a flow diagram of a process for providing content item blockreplication tasks to an on-premises block server, according to someexample embodiments of the present invention.

FIGS. 25A-C comprise a single flowchart illustrating operation of theblock agent at an on-premises block server in processing replicationtasks specified in a replication log stored at the on-premises blockserver, according to some example embodiments of the present invention.

FIGS. 26A-D comprise example graphical user interfaces (GUIs) that arepresented at personal computing devices, according to some exampleembodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 27 is a block diagram of an example system for distributed blockcaching, according to some example embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 28 is a very general block diagram of a computing device in whichthe example embodiment(s) of the present invention can be embodied.

FIG. 29 is a block diagram of a basic software system for controllingthe operation of the computing device.

DESCRIPTION OF THE EXAMPLE EMBODIMENT(S)

In the following description, for the purposes of explanation, numerousspecific details are set forth in order to provide a thoroughunderstanding of the example embodiment(s) the present invention. Itwill be apparent, however, that the example embodiment(s) can bepracticed without these specific details. In other instances, well-knownstructures and devices are shown in block diagram form in order to avoidunnecessarily obscuring the example embodiment(s).

The example embodiments are described according to the followingoutline:

1.0 ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLES

2.0 EXAMPLE SYSTEM ENVIRONMENT

3.0 FIRST EXAMPLE SYNCHRONIZATION PROTOCOL OPERATION

-   -   3.1 UPLOADING A CONTENT ITEM        -   3.1.1 USER ACCOUNT AND CONTENT ITEM NAMESPACE METADATA        -   3.1.2 CONTENT ITEM NAMESPACE MOUNT INFORMATION        -   3.1.3 CONTENT ITEM SERVER JOURNAL        -   3.1.4 EXAMPLE UPLOAD INTERACTIONS    -   3.2 DOWNLOADING A CONTENT ITEM        -   3.2.1 LINKED DEVICE METADATA        -   3.2.2 EXAMPLE DOWNLOAD INTERACTION            4.0 SECOND EXAMPLE SYNCHRONIZATION PROTOCOL OPERATION    -   4.1 UPLOADING PROCESS        -   4.1.1 CONTENT ITEM SERVER JOURNAL        -   4.1.2 EXAMPLE UPLOAD INTERACTIONS    -   4.2 DOWNLOADING PROCESS        -   4.2.1 EXAMPLE DOWNLOAD INTERACTION            5.0 STREAMING DOWNLOAD OPTIMIZATION    -   5.1 FIRST EXAMPLE SYNCHRONIZATION PROTOCOL    -   5.2 SECOND EXAMPLE SYNCHRONIZATION PROTOCOL        6.0 PEER-TO-PEER OPTIMIZATION    -   6.1 DISCOVERY PROCESS    -   6.2 PEER DOWNLOAD ADVERTISEMENT    -   6.3 PEER DEVICES TABLE    -   6.4 PEER-TO-PEER DOWNLOAD PROCESS        7.0 CONTENT ITEM BLOCK REPLICATION    -   7.1 REPLICATION METADATA    -   7.2 SERVER JOURNAL    -   7.3 REPLICATION LOG    -   7.4 PROVIDING REPLICATION TASKS    -   7.5 PROCESSING REPLICATION TASKS        8.0 DELETING CONTENT ITEM BLOCKS        9.0 CONTENT ITEM BLOCK REPLICATION WHEN ASSIGNMENT OCCURS        10.0 ON-PREMISES CONTENT MANAGEMENT SERVICE        11.0 SELECTIVE CONTENT ITEM SYNCHRONIZATION        12.0 DISTRIBUTED BLOCK CACHING OPTIMIZATION        13.0 BASIC COMPUTING HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE    -   13.1 BASIC COMPUTING DEVICE    -   13.2 BASIC SOFTWARE SYSTEM        14.0 EXTENSIONS AND ALTERNATIVES

1.0 Illustrative Examples

Example embodiments of the present invention provide users of onlinecontent management services with greater control over where theircontent items are hosted with such services. In the following, a numberof computer-implemented processes and network interactions aredescribed. To help in describing those process and network interactions,some illustrative example users will now be introduced. The exampleswill be used to illustrate features of some example embodiments of thepresent invention and to aid in describing certain features of someexample embodiments of the present invention. The examples are notintended to be limiting and are merely provided for illustration.

A first example user is referred to herein as “Corporation Alpha.” As afirst example, Corporation Alpha has a number of employees that use anonline content management service to synchronize content items stored ontheir work computers with content items stored on servers on theInternet operated by the service. Corporation Alpha likes that, becausethe content items are stored at their work computers, the employees haveaccess to the content items when their work computers are not connectedto the Internet. At the same time, Corporation Alpha also likes that thecontent items are synced to online content management service serversfor backup and sharing purposes. Corporation Alpha also prefers, whenpossible, to reduce the time needed to synchronize content item changesbetween employee work computers.

As a second example, the employees of Corporation Alpha may bedistributed geographically. For example, Corporation Alpha'sheadquarters may be in San Francisco but may also have satellite officesin New York, Austin, and Seattle. Teams within Corporation Alpha mayalso be distributed geographically. For example, employees in the SanFrancisco and Austin offices may be collaborating on a project together.Corporation Alpha would prefer that changes to content items that theteam collaborates on are quickly synchronized between computers at theSan Francisco and Austin offices.

As a third example, the project the employees of Corporation Alpha inSan Francisco and Austin are collaborating on together may be highlysensitive (e.g., confidential). In this case, Corporation Alpha mayprefer to retain more control and oversight over the content itemsassociated with the project. For example, Corporation Alpha may preferthat the project content items be stored on-premises only and not onservers operated by the online content management service.

Using features of the present invention, users such as Corporation Alphaand other users can control where their content items managed by anonline content management service are hosted. In particular, exampleembodiments allow users to host their content items on-premises only,off-premises only, or both on-premises and off-premises. When hostingcontent items on-premises, users can use their own content item storagehardware (although some example embodiments involve the online contentmanagement service providing on-premises content item storage hardware).Example embodiments allow end-user devices to synchronize content itemchanges made at the end-user devices to on-premises storage, tooff-premises storage, or to both on-premises storage and off-premisesstorage. Example embodiments also allow end-user devices to synchronizecontent item changes made by other end-user devices from on-premisesstorage, from off-premises storage, or from both on-premises storage andoff-premises storage.

These illustrative examples are used in conjunction with some of thefollowing description to aid in describing features of some exampleembodiments of the present invention.

2.0 Example System Environment

Features of some example embodiments of the present invention will nowbe described by reference to FIG. 1, which is a block diagram of anexample system environment 100 in which some example embodiments of thepresent invention may be implemented. As shown, a user (e.g., 102-1) canhave or use a personal computing device (e.g., 110-1). A personalcomputing device can have a local storage (e.g., 112-1) and a contentitem synchronization agent (e.g., 114-1). A local storage of a personalcomputing device can store one or more content items 113. An on-premisesblock server 120 can be composed of a block service 122, block storage124, and a block management agent 126. The block storage 124 can storeone or more content item blocks 125. An online content managementservice can be composed of a control plane, a storage plane, and a dataplane. The control plane can include a notification server 140, ametadata server 150, and a web site 170. The storage plane can includean off-premises block server 130. The off-premises block server 130 canbe composed of a block service 132 and block storage 134. The blockstorage 124 of the off-premises block server 130 can store one or morecontent item blocks 125. A back-end data bus can be composed of acollection of computing devices, networks, and network devices thatfacilitate network communications and movement of data within andbetween the control plane and the storage plane, including the servers130, 140, 150, and 170 thereof. The back-end data bus can alsofacilitate access to the metadata plane 180 by the control plane and thestorage plane, including the servers 130, 140, 150, and 170 thereof. Thedata plane 180 can be composed of one or more volatile or non-volatilememory-based, possible distributed, database systems for retrieving andstoring data (e.g., memcache, a RDBMS, a distributed key-value store,etc.)

In the example of FIG. 1, the system environment 100 includes user 102-1and user 102-2 having or using personal computing device 110-1 andpersonal computing device 110-2, respectively. The personal computingdevice 110-1 has a local storage 112-1 and a content itemsynchronization agent 114-1. The personal computing device 110-2 alsohas a local storage 112-2 and a content item synchronization agent114-2. It should be understood that while FIG. 1 depicts only two users(102-1 and 102-2) and two personal computing devices (110-1 and 110-2)in the system environment 100 for purposes of providing a clear example,the system environment 100 may contain more than two users and more thantwo personal computing devices, each having a local storage and acontent item synchronization agent. For example, system environment 100may have hundreds or thousands or millions of users or more and hundredsor thousands or millions of personal computing devices or more. Further,there is no requirement of a one-to-one correspondence between users andpersonal computing devices. For example, a single personal computingdevice may be used by multiple users and a single user may have or usemultiple personal computing devices.

Pursuant to some example embodiments of the present invention, the user102-1 can use the personal computing device 110-1 to add or modify acontent item 113 in the local storage 112-1 of the personal computingdevice 110-1. The content item synchronization agent 114-1 at thepersonal computing device 110-1 then automatically detects the additionor modification of the content item 113 to the local storage 112-1 anduploads the content item 113 to on-premises block server 120 or tooff-premises block server 130. According to some of the exampleembodiments, the upload is facilitated by network communications betweenthe content item synchronization agent 114-1 and a metadata server 150in accordance with a content item synchronization protocol, exampleembodiments of which are described in greater detail below.

Pursuant to some example embodiments of the present invention, anotherpersonal computing device 110-2 automatically downloads the added ormodified content item 113 to the local storage 112-2 of the personalcomputing device 112-2. Initially, a notification server 140 notifiesthe content item synchronization agent 114-2 at the personal computingdevice 112-2 that a new version of a content item 113 is available.Then, as directed by network communications between the synchronizationagent 114-2 and the metadata server 150 in accordance with the contentitem synchronization protocol, the content item synchronization agent114-2 downloads the new version of the content item 113 from on-premisesblock server 120 or from off-premises block server 130. Afterdownloading, the new version of the content item 113 is available to theuser 102-2 in local storage 112-2.

A personal computing device (e.g., 110-1 or 110-2) can be a stationaryor portable personal computing device. For example, a personal computingdevice can be a desktop computer, a workstation computer, a mobiletelephone, a laptop computer, a tablet computer, or other stationary orportable personal computing device. A personal computing device may becomposed of one or more basic hardware components such as, for example,those of basic computing device 2800 described below with respect toFIG. 28. A personal computing device may also be configured with a basicsoftware system such as, for example, software system 2900 describedbelow with respect to FIG. 29.

A local storage (e.g., 112-1 or 112-2) can be an electronic, magnetic,or optical data storage mechanism that is connected to the bus of apersonal computing device 110 by a physical host interface (e.g., SerialAttached SCIS, Serial ATA, PCI Express, Fibre Channel, USB, or thelike). For example, the data storage mechanism can be a hard disk, asolid state drive, or an optical drive of a personal computing device.Alternatively, a local storage can be a network drive, such as, forexample, a network data storage device on a local area network (LAN)that is “mounted” on a personal computing device. By mounting thenetwork drive, data stored in the network drive appears to a user andapplications executing on a personal computing device to be stored atthe personal computing device (i.e., on a physical drive of the device),even though the network drive is physically located across the networkseparate from the device. Once mounted, a personal computing devicetypically reads and writes data from and to the network drive inaccordance with a network file system protocol such as, for example, thenetwork file system (NFS) protocol for UNIX or the server message block(SMB) protocol for WINDOWS.

A local storage of a personal computing device may store content items113. A “content item” is a collection of digital information. Whenstored in a local storage, a content item can correspond to a file in afile system. For example, a content item can be a document file (e.g., aword processing document, a presentation document, a spreadsheetdocument, or other type of document), an image file (e.g., a .jpg,.tiff, .gif, or other type of image file), an audio file (e.g., a .mp3,.aiff, .m4a, .wav, or other type of audio file), a video file (e.g., a.mov, .mp4, .m4v, or other type of video file), a web page file (e.g., a.htm, .html, or other type of web page file), a text or rich-text file(e.g., a .txt, .rtf, or other type of text or rich-text file), or othertype of file. When stored in a local storage, a content item can have afile system path within a file-folder hierarchy of the file system. Forexample, the file system path for a content item stored in a localstorage might be expressed as the character string“C:\folder1\folder2\my.file” where “C:\” refers to a root of the filesystem, “folder1” refers to a file system folder at the root of the filesystem, “folder2” refers to a file system folder with the “folder1” filesystem folder, and “my.file” refers to a file in the “folder2” filesystem folder corresponding to the content item. The “\” character isused in the character string expression to delineate the different filesystem folder and file references in the character string expression.

Personal computing devices 110-1 and 110-2 and on-premises block server120 can be connected to a local area network (LAN) 160. For example, LAN160 can be an IEEE 802-based network including, but not limited to, anIEEE 802.3 or IEEE 802.11-based network, or combination of multiple suchnetworks. The LAN 160 may be protected from a wide area network (WAN)190 by a network firewall. In an embodiment, the WAN 190 is the Internetor other public network. In particular, the network firewall canprohibit devices connected to WAN 190, including servers 130, 140, 150,and 170, from initiating establishment of a network connection withdevices connected to LAN 160, including personal computing devices 110-1and 110-2 and on-premises block server 120. However, the networkfirewall can be configured to allow certain types of network connectionsoriginating from devices connected to LAN 160, including personalcomputing devices 110-1 and 110-2 and on-premises block server 120, tobe established with devices connected to WAN 190, including servers 130,140, 150, and 170. Typically, LAN 160 has lower network latency andhigher network bandwidth when compared to WAN 190 but there is norequirement that this be the case in a given implementation.

Any and all of on-premises block server 120, off-premises block server130, notification server 140, metadata server 150, web site 170, andmetadata plane 180 may be implemented by one or more server computingdevices, each of which may be composed of one or more basic hardwarecomponents such as, for example, those of basic computing device 2800described below with respect to FIG. 28, and each of which may also beconfigured with a basic software system such as, for example, softwaresystem 2900 described below with respect to FIG. 29. If implemented bymore than one server computing device, the server computing devices maybe configured in a load balanced, clustered, or other distributedcomputing arrangement.

The functionality described herein of each of the content itemsynchronization agent, the block service 122, the block agent 126, theblock service 132, the notification server 140, the metadata server 150,the web site 170, and the metadata plane 180 may be implemented as oneor more computer programs configured with instructions for performingthe functionality when executed by one or more computing devices.However, the functionality can be implemented in hardware (e.g., as oneor more application specific integrated circuits (ASICS) or one or morefield programmable gate arrays (FPGAs)) or a combination of hardware andsoftware according to the requirements of the particular implement athand.

While the example of FIG. 1 depicts only a single on-premises blockserver 120 for the purpose of providing a clear example, the systemenvironment 100 may include tens or hundreds or thousands or millions ormore on-premises block servers, depending on the number of relatedgroups of users of the online content management service. For example,the online content management service may support millions of users ormore that belong to various different organizations, businesses,corporations, schools, universities, and other groups. Each one of thoseorganizations, business, corporations, schools, universities, and groupsmay have or use one or more on-premises block servers.

The term “on-premises” as used herein is intended to be relative to oneor more personal computing devices and the online content managementservice and, in particular, the off-premises block server 130 of theonline content management service. While an on-premises block server(e.g., 120) may be located in the same facility or the same building asa personal computing device, there is no requirement that this be thecase. Nor is there a requirement that an on-premises block server beconnected to the same local area network (e.g., 160) as a personalcomputing device, although they may be. Accordingly, reference to an“on-premises” block server herein means that the block server is closerin terms of geography and/or the network to a given personal computingdevice than the off-premises block server 130 is to the given personalcomputing device. A personal computing device may be closer to anon-premises block server than the off-premises block server 130 on anetwork if the network connecting the personal computing device to theon-premises block server generally provides lower network latency and/orhigher network bandwidth capability than the network connecting thepersonal computing device to the off-premises block server 130.

A personal computing device may make a network request, or just“request”, of various servers including, for example, on-premises blockserver 120, off-premises block server 130, metadata server 150, and website 170. And servers 120,130, 150, and 170 may return a networkresponse, or just “response”, to a request from a personal computingdevice. The request typically includes a header and a payload. Therequest header typically provides context for the request payload to theserver receiving the request. The response to a request typically alsoincludes a header and a payload. The header of a response typicallyprovides context for the response payload to the personal computingdevice receiving the response. A request from a personal computingdevice and a response returned thereto by a server may be sent over oneor more networks (e.g., 160 and 190) and made in accordance with arequest-response networking protocol such as, for example, the HyperTextTransfer Protocol (HTTP). A request and a response thereto may be sentover a network connection established by a personal computing device anda server according to a connection-oriented networking protocol such as,for example, the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP). The networkconnection may be long-lived in the sense that more than one request andresponse pair is sent over the network connection. The networkconnection may also be encrypted according to a cryptographic networkingprotocol such as, for example, Transport Layer Security (TLS) or SecureSockets Layer (SSL). However, no particular networking protocol orparticular set of networking protocols is required by the exampleembodiments and protocols other than HTTP, TCP, TLS, or SSL may be usedaccording to the requirements of the particular implementation at hand.

3.0 First Example Synchronization Protocol Operation

A first example operation of the content item synchronization protocolwill now be described with respect to FIGS. 2-9. In particular,operation of the synchronization protocol according to the first exampleis explained with an example of uploading a content item to anon-premises block server (e.g., 120) or the off-premises block server130 and an example of downloading a content item from an on-premisesblock server or the off-premises block server.

3.1 Uploading a Content Item

Turning now to FIG. 2, it is a flow diagram illustrating a process 200for uploading a new or modified content item from personal computingdevice 110-1 to a “target” block server (e.g. on-premises block server120 or off-premises block server 130), according to some exampleembodiments of the present invention. While steps are described belowand depicted in FIG. 2 in a certain order, no particular order for thesteps is required, unless explicitly stated or implied otherwise.Further, there is no requirement that all steps be performed separatelyin time, and some steps may be performed concurrently with each other oroverlap each other in time. Further still, some steps may be omittedentirely and additional steps included according to the requirements ofthe particular implementation at hand.

At step 202, a user 102-1 adds or modifies a “new” content item in localstorage 112-1 of a personal computing device 110-1. For example, theuser 102-1 may create or modify a file in the local storage 112-1 orcopy, download, or edit a file in the local storage 112-1. The added ormodified content item may be considered “new” in the sense that theaddition or modification results in a “new” version of the content item.In the case of addition, the new version can be the first or initialversion of the content item. In the case of modification, the newversion can be based on an existing version of the content item.Hereinafter, references are made to a “new” content item. Suchreferences are intended to encompass any new version of a content itemthat results from creating the first version of a content item ormodifying an existing version of a content item.

At step 204, a content item synchronization agent 114-1 at the personalcomputing device 110-1 detects the new content item in the local storage112-1. For example, the content item synchronization agent 114-1 can usean application programming interface (API) offered by an operatingsystem of the personal computing device 110-1 to watch for or benotified of changes to a file system of the local storage 112-1. When achange to the file system is made, such as when a new file is added tothe file system or an existing file in the file system is modified ordeleted, the operating system may notify the content itemsynchronization agent 114-1 via the API.

At step 206, the content item synchronization agent 114-1 determines thecontent item namespace, if any, to which the new content item belongs.As used herein, a “content item namespace” refers generally to acollection of one or more content items under management of the onlinecontent management service and to which one or more users have accessaccording to user account and content item namespace metadata maintainedby the online content management service. A content item namespace towhich a particular content item belongs is sometimes referred to hereinas the “owning” content item namespace for the particular content item.Before describing how a content item synchronization agent may determinethe content item namespace, if any, to which a content item belongs,some background on the user account and content item namespace metadatastored in the metadata plane 180 will be provided.

3.1.1 User Account and Content Item Namespace Metadata

Turning briefly to FIG. 3 before returning to FIG. 2, FIG. 3 representsuser account and content item namespace metadata 300 stored in themetadata plane 180. In particular, metadata plane 180 can store one ormore user account records 310 corresponding to one or more user accountsheld with the online content management service. In some exampleembodiments, metadata plane 180 stores hundreds, thousands, or millionsof user account records 310 or more. Among other information, a useraccount record 310 can have a user account identifier 312 and one ormore authorized content item namespace identifiers 314.

A user account identifier 312 of a user account record 310 identifiesthe user account record 310 in the metadata plane 180. In some exampleembodiments, a user account identifier 312 is a 128-bit value. For extrasecurity, the user account identifier 312 of a user account record 310may be changed (e.g., rotated) from time to time. Thus, the user accountidentifier 314 of a user account record 310 may change over the lifetimeof the user account record 310. However, there is no requirement thatuser account identifiers 312 be changed from time to time and a useraccount record 310 may have the same user account identifier 312 for thelife of the user account.

An authorized content item identifier 314 of a user account record 310identifies a content item namespace to which a user in possession of theuser account identifier 312 of the user account record 310 is authorizedto access. Thus, a user that holds a user account with the onlinecontent management service can have access to one or more content itemnamespaces associated with the user account. Further, multiple users mayhave access to the same content item namespace. Such a content itemnamespace is sometimes referred to as a “shared” content item namespaceor, more colloquially, a “shared folder”, because the content itemnamespace is accessible by more than one user account. However, it isalso possible for a content item namespace to be accessible only by asingle user account.

A user can acquire possession of a user account identifier 312 byproviding valid authentication credentials (e.g., a valid username andpassword) associated with the user account identifier 312. For example,a user may provide authentication credentials to web site 170 through aweb page served to a personal computing device by the web site 170.Validity of the authentication credentials provided by the user may beverified by the online content management service or a third-partyauthentication service or other identity provider.

Once the authentication credentials are verified, the user accountidentifier 312 is provided to the personal computing device of the userwhere it is stored locally, for example, in local storage. When storedlocally, the user account identifier 312 may be encrypted for extrasecurity. The content item synchronization agent and other applications(e.g., a web browser application) at the personal computing device mayinclude the locally stored user account identifier 312 in networkrequests sent to the various servers 120, 130,140, 150, and 170, therebyidentifying a particular user account making the request.

3.1.2 Content Item Namespace Mount Information

Returning again to FIG. 2, at step 206, the content item synchronizationagent 114-1 may have local access to information of a user accountrecord 310. For example, after the user 102-1 provides validauthentication credentials associated with a user account identifier 312of a user account record 310, information of the user account record 310may be downloaded (e.g., from metadata server 150 or web site 170) tothe personal computing device 110-1 and stored in local storage 112-1where it is locally accessible to the content item synchronization agent114-1. Such downloaded information may include the user accountidentifier 312 and the authorized content item namespace identifier(s)314 of the user account record 310. When stored in local storage 112-1,the downloaded information may be encrypted for added security.

According to some example embodiments, determination by the content itemsynchronization agent 114-1 of the owning content item namespace of thenew content item added or modified at step 202 is based on a file systempath to the new content item in a hierarchical file system of the localstorage 112-1. In particular, the content item synchronization agent114-1 may have local access to content item namespace mount information.The content item namespace mount information may identify, for each ofone or more authorized content item namespaces “mounted” on the filesystem, a file system path to a content item namespace “mount point”folder at which the authorized content item namespace is mounted. Thus,an authorized content item namespace may be considered to be “mounted”at a personal computing device if a content item namespace mount pointfolder exists for the authorized content item namespace in a file systemof the personal computing device. It should be noted that there is norequirement that the content item namespace mount point folder for acontent item namespace be the same at every personal computing device atwhich the content item namespace is mounted and the same content itemnamespace can be mounted at different content item namespace mount pointfolders at different personal computing devices. For example, contentitem namespace mount information stored at a personal computing device110-1 may indicate that:

-   -   A content item namespace with identifier ‘ABC123’ is mounted at        ‘C:\My Work Content items\’;    -   Another content item namespace with identifier ‘DEF456’ is        mounted at ‘C:\My Work Content Items\My Shared Items\’; and    -   Another content item namespace with identifier ‘GHI789’ is        mounted at ‘C:\My Content Items\My Personal Content Items\’.

According to some example embodiments, the content item synchronizationagent 114-1 determines the owning content item namespace of the newcontent item by identifying, in the locally stored content itemnamespace mount information, the file system path of the most nestedcontent item namespace mount point folder to which the new content itembelongs. Continuing the example above, if the file system path withinthe hierarchical file system to the new content item is ‘C:\My ContentItems\My Personal Content Items\Photos\photo_of_me_hiking.jpg’, thencontent item synchronization agent 114-1 determines that the new contentitem belongs to content item namespace ‘GHI789’. On the other hand, ifthe file system path to the new content item is ‘C:\My Work ContentItems\My Shared Items\Presentations\sales_preso.doc’, then the contentitem synchronization 114-1 determines that the new content item belongsto content item namespace ‘DEF456’ as opposed to content item namespace‘ABC123’ because the folder ‘C:\My Work Content Items\My Shared Items\’is nested within the folder ‘C:\My Work Content items\’.

While in the above-example the content item namespace mount informationincludes fully-qualified or absolute file system paths, the content itemnamespace mount information may include relative file system paths inother embodiments. In these other embodiments, a content itemsynchronization agent at a personal computing device can determine theowning content item namespace of a new content item based on a relativefile system path to the new content item and a file system path to aparent mount point folder that is common to all content item namespacemount point folders at the personal computing device. For example,content item namespace mount information at personal computing device110-1 may indicate that:

-   -   A content item namespace with identifier ‘ABC123’ is mounted at        ‘\My Work Content items\’;    -   Another content item namespace with identifier ‘DEF456’ is        mounted at ‘\My Work Content Items\My Shared Items\’; and    -   Another content item namespace with identifier ‘GHI789’ is        mounted at ‘\My Personal Content Items\’.

In the above example, the parent mount point folder may be, for example,‘C:\My Content Items\’. In this case, if the fully qualified or absolutefile system path to the new content item is ‘C:\My Content Items\My WorkContent Items\My Shared Items\Presentations\sales_preso.doc’, then thecontent item synchronization agent 114-1 can determine that the newcontent item belongs to content item namespace ‘DEF456’ based on therelative file system path to the new content item of ‘\My Work ContentItems\My Shared Items\Presentations\sales_preso.doc’.

At step 208, the content item synchronization agent 114-1 computes acontent item block list for the new content item. In particular, the newcontent item is segmented into one or more content item blocks andcryptographic hashes of any new content item blocks are computed.

In the case of an added content item, it is more probable than in thecase of a modified content item that all content item block(s) of thenew content item will be new since the added content item can be thefirst version of the content item. In the case of a modified contentitem, all or less than all of the content item block(s) of the contentitem can be new. In either case, whether added or modified, each contentitem block may have a maximum predetermined size (e.g., 4 MB). However,the last (or first) content item block or the only content item block ofthe new content item can be a size that is less than the maximumpredefined size if the total size of the new content item is not an evenmultiple of the maximum predetermined size.

The cryptographic hash function can be, for example, the Secure HashAlgorithm (SHA) that generates an almost-unique, fixed sized hash (e.g.,a 256-bit hash) when applied to a content item block. Other hashfunctions may be used and the example embodiments are not limited to theSHA-256 hash function. In general, however, the hash function should beof sufficient bit-depth (e.g., 256 bits or more) such that collisionsare rare given the number of unique content item blocks undermanagement. Thus, the new content item can be represented as a list ofone or more content item block hashes computed from the content itemblock(s) that make up the new content item. This type of list is alsoreferred to herein generally as a “content item block list”, or whenreferring to the content item block list for a particular content item,the “particular content item's block list”. For a modified content item,a content item synchronization agent may use a rolling checksum approachto efficiently determine which content item block(s) of a modifiedcontent item are modified or new relative to a previous version of thecontent item. In this case, content item block hashes are computed onlyfor new or modified content item blocks and the content item blockhashes previously computed for unchanged blocks are reused in themodified content item's block list.

At step 210, the content item synchronization agent 114-1 determines the“target” content item block server to which to upload the content itemblock(s) of the new content item. According to some example embodiments,this determination is made based on the owning content item namespace ofthe new content item. To make this determination, the content itemsynchronization agent 114-1 may have access to namespace to block serverassignments for the authorized content item namespaces mounted at thepersonal computing device 110-1. The namespace to block serverassignments may be stored locally at a personal computing device. Forexample, the namespace to block server assignments may be stored inlocal storage 112-1. The namespace to block server assignments canspecify, for all or some of the authorized content item namespacesmounted at a personal computing device, a block server to which thecontent item namespace is assigned. For example, the namespace to blockserver assignments at personal computing device 110-1 may indicate thefollowing information in a suitable data format:

-   -   The authorized content item namespace having content item        namespace identifier ‘ABC123’ is assigned to the block server        with block server identifier ‘JKL101’;    -   The authorized content item namespace having content item        namespace identifier ‘DEF456’ is assigned to the block server        with block server identifier ‘JKL101’; and    -   The authorized content item namespace having content item        namespace identifier ‘GHI789’ is assigned to the block server        with block server identifier ‘MNO112’.

For example, on-premises block server 120 may be the block server withblock server identifier ‘JKL101’ and off-premises block server 130 maybe the block server with block server identifier ‘MNO112’. A blockserver identifier identifies a block server. A block server identifiermay also be or be associated (e.g., via a mapping, configuration file,associative array, etc.) with a hostname (e.g., a resolvable DNShostname) or network address (e.g., an IPv4 or IPv6 network address) ofthe block server which a content item synchronization agent can use toestablish a network connection with the block server. Alternatively, ablock server identifier itself may be or contain a hostname or networkaddress of the block server.

It should be understood that the example identifiers provided herein,including the example block server identifiers and the example contentitem namespace identifiers, are merely provided for purposes ofillustration and not intended to be limiting of the type or format ofidentifiers that may be used in an implementation of the invention.

The namespace to block server assignments stored at a personal computingdevice may be based on information stored in the metadata plane 180. Inparticular, the metadata plane may store namespace to block serverassignments for all or some of the content item namespaces undermanagement of the online content management service. These assignmentsmay be created in the metadata plane 180 by users accessing web site 170(e.g., by using a web browser or mobile application at a personalcomputing device). For example, by accessing the web site 170, a userwith authorized access to a particular content item namespace can assignthe particular content item namespace to a particular block server(e.g., on-premises block server 120 or off-premises block server 130).For example, the user may be an administrator of the particular contentitem namespace or the particular content item namespace may otherwise beassociated with the user's account record 310 with the appropriatepermissions allowing the user to assign the particular content itemnamespace to a block server.

A content item synchronization agent at a personal computing device maydownload namespace to block server assignments from the metadata server150 or other server of the online content management server (e.g., website 170). For example, the content item synchronization agent 114-1 mayprovide a user account identifier 312 to the metadata server 150 in anetwork request. The metadata server 150 may then consult the useraccount record 310 identified by the user account identifier 312received in the request to determine the identifier(s) 314 of theauthorized content item namespace(s) the user account is authorized toaccess. Using those identifier(s) 314, the metadata server 150 mayconsult the namespace to block server assignments stored in the metadataplane 180 to determine the assignment(s) for the authorized content itemnamespace(s). Those assignment(s) may then be returned to the contentitem synchronization agent 114-1 which can store the assignment(s)locally (e.g., in local storage 112-1) for subsequent access.

While in some example embodiments, a namespace to block serverassignment is first created in the metadata plane 180 and then providedby the metadata server 150 or web site 170 to a content itemsynchronization agent of a personal computing device at which thecontent item namespace is mounted, a namespace to block serverassignment may instead be first created at a personal computing device(e.g., through a user interface driven by the content itemsynchronization agent at the personal computing device) and thenuploaded to the metadata server 150 or web site 170 for storage in themetadata plane 180. Thus, there is no requirement that a namespace toblock server assignment be created through web site 170 or first createdin the metadata plane 180.

While in some example embodiments, the metadata plane 180 stores anamespace to block server assignment for all content item namespacesunder management of the online content management service, the metadataplane 180 stores a namespace to block server assignment for just asubset of all of the content item namespaces under management in otherexample embodiments. For example, the metadata plane 180 may store anamespace to block server assignment for just the content itemnamespaces under management that are assigned to an on-premises blockserver (e.g., 120) but not for content item namespaces assigned to theoff-premises block server 130. Thus, in these embodiments, if anexplicit namespace to block server assignment does not exist in themetadata plane 180 or at a personal computing device for a particularcontent item namespace, then it can be assumed that the particularcontent item namespace is assigned to the off-premises block server 130.

For example, if the new content item added at step 202 belongs to theauthorized content item namespace with content item namespace identifier‘DEF456’, and a namespace to block server assignment stored at thepersonal computing device 110-1 specifies that the content itemnamespace ‘DEF456’ is assigned to the on-premises block server 120 withblock server identifier ‘JKL101’, then, at step 210, the content itemsynchronization agent 114-1 determines to upload the new content item tothe on-premises block server 120. The block server to which an owningcontent item namespace is assigned is referred to hereinafter withrespect to FIG. 2 as the “target” block server. In general, the targetblock server can be an on-premises block server (e.g., 120) or theoff-premises block server 130 depending on the block server to which theowning content item namespace is assigned.

At this point in the process 200, the content item synchronization agent114-1 has determined (step 206) the identifier (e.g., ‘DEF456’) of theowning content item namespace, has computed (step 208) the content itemblock list for the new content item, and has determined (step 210) theidentifier (e.g., ‘JKL101’) of the target block server. Now, at step212, the content item synchronization agent 114-1 sends a “commit”request to the metadata server 150 providing this information. Inparticular, the commit request, in addition to a user account identifierand/or an identifier of the personal computing device 110-1, may includeall of the following information, or a subset or a superset thereof:

-   -   The identifier (e.g., ‘DEF456’) of the owning content item        namespace;    -   The identifier (e.g., ‘JKL101’) of the target block server;    -   The relative file system path of the new content item relative        to a content item namespace mount point folder of the owning        content item namespace. For example, if the fully qualified or        absolute file system path of the new content item at the        personal computing device 110-1 is ‘C:\My Work Content Items\My        Shared Items\Presentations\sales_preso.doc’ and the file system        path to the content item namespace mount point folder of the        owning content item namespace is ‘C:\My Work Content Items\My        Shared Items\’, then the relative file system path included in        the commit request might be ‘\Presentations\sales_preso.doc’;        and

The content item block list for the new content item.

For extra security, the commit request may be sent via LAN 160 and WAN190 over an encrypted network connection such as, for example, a networkconnection secured with Transport Layer Security (TLS) or Secure SocketsLayer (SSL).

At step 214, the metadata server 150 authorizes the commit requestreceived from a content item synchronization agent 114-1. Thisauthorizing may include verifying that content item namespace identifierof the owning content item namespace specified in the commit request isone of the authorized content item namespace identifier(s) 314 of theuser account record 310 in the metadata plane 180 corresponding to theuser account identifier in the commit request. If not, then the metadataserver 150 may deny the commit request and return an appropriate errormessage to the content item synchronization agent 114-1.

Also as part of authorizing the commit request, the metadata server 150may also verify that the target block server specified in the commitrequest is a block server to which the owning content item namespace iscurrently assigned. This verification may be performed by consulting thenamespace to block server assignments in the metadata plane 180. If theowning content item namespace is not currently assigned to the targetblock server, then the metadata server 150 may deny the commit requestand return an appropriate error message to the content itemsynchronization agent 114-1.

However, in some example embodiments, instead of returning an errormessage when the owning content item namespace is not currently assignedto the target block server specified in the commit request, the metadataserver 150 instead returns an identifier of a block server to which thecontent item namespace is currently assigned, according to the namespaceto block server assignments in the metadata plane 180. By doing so, thecontent item synchronization agent 114-1 can retry the commit request,this time specifying a new target block server. This also provides amechanism for the metadata server 150 to inform the content itemsynchronization agent 114-1 when the block server assignment for acontent item namespace is changed. This also allows a content itemsynchronization agent 114-1 to update its local namespace to blockserver assignments when informed of a new block server assignment for acontent item namespace.

At step 216, assuming the commit request is authorized, the metadataserver 150 determines, based at least in part on the content item blocklist for the new content item in the commit request, which, if any, ofthe content item block(s) of the new content item are not yet stored atthe target block server. To do this, the metadata server 150 may consultthe target block server's content item block list in the metadata plane180. A block server's content item block list, or just “block list”,identifies the content item blocks stored at a particular block serverby the content item block hashes of the content item blocks. There maybe a block server block list in the metadata plane 180 for eachon-premises block server (e.g., 120) at which content item blocks arestored. There may also be a block server block list in the metadataplane 180 for the off-premises block server 130. Thus, there may behundreds or thousands or more of block server block lists stored in themetadata plane 180. Although referred to herein as a block server block“list”, the content item block hash of a block server block list may bestored in a list data structure or a data structure other than a listdata structure. For example, a block server block list may beimplemented as a B-tree data structure or other tree-based datastructure. Further, it is also possible for a block server block list tobe implemented by multiple data structures. For example, a first datastructure may be optimized for looking up a given content item blockhash in the block server block list and a second data structure may beoptimized for adding new content item block hashes to the block serverblock list.

To determine which, if any, of the content item block(s) of the newcontent item are not yet stored in the target block server, the metadataserver 150 consults the target block server's block list in the metadataplane 180. The metadata server 150 may identify the target blockserver's block list in the metadata plane 180 based on the block serveridentifier for the target block server. For each content item block hashin the content item block list for the new content item in the commitrequest, the metadata server 150 determines if the content item blockhash is in the target block server's block list. If not, then themetadata server 150 determines that the corresponding content item blockis missing from the target block server. Otherwise, the metadata server150 determines that the corresponding content item block is alreadystored at the target block server.

At step 218, the metadata server 150 responds to the first commitrequest with a “need content item block list” response. The need contentitem block list response includes any content item block hashes in thecontent item block list for the new content item sent in the commitrequest that the metadata server 150 determined at step 216 were missingfrom the target block server's block list. Thus, the need content itemblock list response may specify all or a subset of the content itemblock hashes in the content item block list for the new content itemsent in the commit request depending on which content item block(s) aremissing at the target block server.

At step 220, the content item synchronization agent 114-1 stores anymissing content item block(s) of the new content item to the targetblock server. This may involve the content item synchronization agent114-1 making one or more “store” requests to the target block server.Each such store request may include one or more missing content itemblocks and the content item block hash for each of the one or moremissing content item blocks. The content item synchronization agent114-1 may make more than one store request if the total size of themissing content item block(s) is sufficiently large. For example, thetarget block server may permit a single store request to upload only upto 8 Megabytes (MB) of content item block data (e.g., no more than twocontent item blocks at 4 MB per block). In this case, if the new contentitem is 16 MB in size, for example, then at least two store requests maybe needed.

According to some example embodiments, instead of including the entiremissing content item block in a store request, only the differencesbetween a content item block that is already stored at the target blockserver and the missing content item block are included in the storerequest. This conserves consumption of network bandwidth and othercomputing resources. The differences may be computed according to adelta encoding approach such as, for example, the delta encodingapproach used by the known rsync algorithm. Thus, reference herein touploading a content item block to a block server encompasses bothuploading the entire content item block to the block server anduploading just a delta between the content item block and anothercontent item block to the block server. The delta can be the actual datadifferences between the two content item blocks, a representation(encoding) of the actual data differences, or a combination of actualdata differences and a representation (encoding) of actual datadifferences.

At step 222, the block service (e.g., 122 or 132) of the target blockserver (e.g., 120 or 130) stores the missing content item block(s) inthe target block server's block storage (e.g., 124 or 134). Theimplementation of the block storage of the target block server may varydepending on whether the target block server is an on-premises blockserver (e.g., 120) or the off-premises block server 130.

In some example embodiments, an on-premises block server may havesufficient data storage capacity to store content item blocks of thecontent items belonging to a subset of the all of the content itemnamespaces under management of the online content management service.The subset may be a set of content item namespaces that all belong tothe same organization, or employees of the same corporation, or studentsat the same school, for example. On the other hand, the off-premisesblock server 130 may have sufficient data storage capacity store contentitem blocks for all content item namespaces under management of theonline content management service. The different data storagerequirements may drive different implementations in the on-premisesblock storage (e.g., 124) as compared to the off-premises block storage134. For example, on-premises block storage may be implemented as anarray of storage devices (e.g., disk drives) housed in one or a fewnumber of machines that provides up to one to a few terabytes of datastorage or more. While the off-premises block storage 134 may beimplemented as a distributed computing system housed in one or more datacenter facilities providing up to many zettabytes of data storage ormore.

At step 224, the target block server updates the target block server'sblock server block list in the metadata plane 180 with the content itemblock hash(es) of the uploaded content item block(s). The manner ofupdating may vary depending on whether the target block server is anon-premises block server 120 or the off-premises block server 130.

In the case of the off-premises block server 130, for each uploadedcontent item block successfully stored in block storage 134, the blockservice 132 updates the block list in the metadata plane 180 for theoff-premises block server 130. Such updating may include adding thecontent item block hash(es) of the uploaded content item block(s) to theblock list for the off-premises block server 130. Before updating theblock list with a content item block hash of an uploaded content itemblock, the block service 132 may compute its own content item block hashof the uploaded content item block to compare against the content itemblock hash for the uploaded content item block received in the storerequest from a content item synchronization agent. If the content itemblock hashes do not match, the block service 132 may deny the storerequest and not store the uploaded content item block in the blockstorage 134 and not update the block list for the off-premises blockserver 130 in the metadata plane 180. According to some exampleembodiments, the block service 132 may require that the store requestinclude a valid user account identifier 312 before storing any uploadedcontent item block(s) specified in the store request in the blockstorage 134.

In the case of an on-premises block server (e.g., 120), for uploadedcontent item block(s) successfully stored in on-premises block storage(e.g., 124), the block service (e.g., 122) of the on-premises blockserver may send one or more “have content item block” requests to themetadata server 150. The block service can send a have content itemblock request after each uploaded content item block is successfullystored in the block storage. Alternatively, the block service can send ahave content item block request after multiple uploaded content itemblock(s) are successfully stored in the block storage. A have contentitem block request may include all of the following information, or asubset or a super set thereof:

-   -   A user account identifier 312. This can be the user account        identifier 312 specified in the store request to the on-premises        block server. Alternatively, this can be a user account        identifier 312 of another user account such as, for example, a        user account for the on-premises block server;    -   A block server identifier of the on-premises block server; and    -   One or more content item block hash(es) of one or more uploaded        content item block(s) that were successfully stored in the block        storage.

Upon receiving a have content item block request from an on-premisesblock server, the metadata server 150 can authorize the have contentitem block request by verifying that the on-premises block server is oneof the block servers assigned a content item namespace 314 accessible tothe user account identified by the user account identifier 312 in thehave content item block request. If the request is authorized, themetadata server 150 can also update the block list in the metadata plane180 for the on-premises block server to indicate that the uploadedcontent item block(s) are now stored in local block storage at theon-premises block server. After updating the block list in the metadataplane 180, the metadata server 150 may respond to the have content itemblock request that the request was successfully processed.

At this point, whether the target block server is an on-premises blockserver (e.g., 120) or the off-premises block server 130, the contentitem block(s) of the new content item that were missing at the targetblock server have now been uploaded to the target block server by thecontent item synchronization agent 114-1. In addition, the targetserver's block list in the metadata plane 180 has been updated toindicate that all of the content item block(s) of the new content itemare now stored at the target block server.

At step 226, the content item synchronization agent 114-1 attempts thecommit request of step 212 again. This second commit request may passthe same parameters that were passed in the first commit requestincluding the owning content item namespace identifier, the target blockserver identifier, the relative path to the new content item, and thenew content item's block list.

At step 228, the metadata server 150 authorizes this second commitrequest as it did with the first commit request in step 214.

At step 230, assuming the second commit request is authorized, themetadata server 150 determines if any content item block(s) identifiedin the new content item's block list are missing from the target blockserver according to the target block server's block list in the metadataplane 180. This time, since the missing content item block(s) wereuploaded to the target block server after the first commit request, themetadata server 150 should determine that no content item block(s) forthe new content item are missing at the target block server.

3.1.3 Content Item Server Journal

At step 232, after determining that no content item block(s) for the newcontent item are missing from the target block server, the metadataserver 150 adds a new entry to the target block server's content itemjournal, or just “server journal”, in the metadata plane 180. Accordingto some example embodiments, adding the new entry “commits” the newcontent item to the online content management service. A server journalis used to track the versions of the content items committed to aparticular block server. There may be a server journal for theoff-premises block server 130 and a server journal for each on-premisesblock server. Thus, there may be hundreds or thousands or more serverjournals stored in the metadata plane 180.

Turning briefly to FIG. 4, it is a block diagram of a server journal 410composed of one or more server journals. The server journal 410 may bestored in the metadata plane 180. The server journal 410 includes anumber of server journal entries 412. A new server journal entry 412 isadded (e.g., appended) to the server journal 410 when a new version of acontent item (including the first version of a new content item) issuccessfully and completely uploaded to a block server. For example, themetadata server 150 may add a new server journal entry 412 to the serverjournal 410 after determining in response to receiving the second commitrequest from the content item synchronization agent 114-1 that nocontent item block(s) for the new content item are missing from thetarget block server. Adding the new server journal entry 412 to theserver journal 410 commits the new content item to the online contentmanagement service.

Each server journal entry 412 in the server journal 410 corresponds to aversion of a content item. Each server journal entry 412 may include ablock server identifier 413, a content item namespace identifier 414, apath 415, a content item block list 416, and a server journal cursorvalue 417. The block server identifier 413 identifies the block serverto which the corresponding new version of the content item was uploadedto. The content item namespace identifier 414 identifies the contentitem namespace to which the corresponding new version of the contentitem belongs (i.e., the owning content item namespace). The path 415specifies a relative file system path of the corresponding new versionof the content item, relative to a mount point of the content itemnamespace to which the content item belongs. The content item block list416 contains one or more content item block hashes identifying the oneor more content item blocks that make up the corresponding new versionof the content item.

The server journal cursor value 417 of a server journal entry 412 iscontent item namespace and block server specific. In particular, themetadata server 150 may maintain a separate server journal cursor foreach unique content item namespace and block server combination. Theserver journal cursor for a corresponding content item namespace and acorresponding block server may be incremented when a new content itembelonging to the corresponding content item namespace is successfullyuploaded to the corresponding block server. For example, the serverjournal cursor for a corresponding content item namespace and acorresponding block server may be a monotonically increasing value.

For example, if the server journal cursor value 417 for the mostrecently added server journal entry 412 for content item namespace‘DEF456’ and block server ‘JKL101’ is ‘17’, then the new server journalentry 412 added at step 232 for a new version of a content itembelonging to the same content item namespace and uploaded to same blockserver might have a server journal cursor value of ‘18’.

The server journal 410 can store server journals for multiple blockservers. In particular, all of the server journal entries 412 in theserver journal 410 having the same block server identifier 413 may beconsidered that block server's server journal. In some alternativeembodiments, a physically separate server journal is stored in themetadata plane 180 for each block server. Other storage arrangements arepossible including partitioning or sharding the server journal 410 overmultiple server computing devices of the metadata plane 180. In thiscase, the block server identifier 413, the content item namespaceidentifier 414, or a combination of the block server identifier 413 andthe content item namespace identifier 414 may be used as thepartitioning key or the sharding key.

At step 234, after successfully adding a new server journal entry 412 tothe server journal 410 for the new content item 113, the metadata server150 responds to the second commit request. In particular, the metadataserver 150 sends a response that indicates to the content itemsynchronization agent 114-1 that the new content item was successfullycommitted to the online content management service. The response mayalso include one or more of the block server identifier 413, the contentitem namespace identifier 414, or the server journal cursor value 417 ofthe added entry 412.

At step 236, the content item synchronization agent 114-1 may locallystore (e.g., in local storage 112) the server journal cursor valuereceived in the response to the second commit request for futurereference. When storing locally, the content item synchronization 114-1may associate the server journal cursor value with the owning contentitem namespace identifier and the target block server identifier towhich the server journal cursor value pertains. In addition, now thatnew content item has been successfully committed to the online contentmanagement service, the content item synchronization agent 114-1 mayupdate a commit status indicator for the new content item.

The commit status indicator for a content item may be visible to a userwhen viewing the content item as a file in a file system browserinterface such as one provided by an operating system of a personalcomputing device. For example, the commit status indicator may be agraphic displayed on a filename or displayed on an icon representingfile type of the content item as it appears in a file system browser orother graphical user interface for browsing, searching, or locatingfiles in a file system.

According to some example embodiments, a commit status indicator for acontent item may have at least four states: (1) uncommitted, (2)committing, (3) committed to off-premises block server, and (4)committed to on-premises block server. In the uncommitted state, theremay be no commit status indicator displayed. Alternatively, a commitstatus indicator may be displayed that indicates that the content itemis not committed to any block server. In the committing state, thecommit status indicator may be animated or otherwise indicate that thecontent item is currently in the process of being committed to a targetblock server. For example, when in the committing state, the commitstatus indicator may animate in a continuous loop to indicate that thecontent item block(s) of the content item are currently being uploadedto a target block server. When committed to a block server, the commitstatus indicator for the committed content item may have a differentappearance depending on whether the content item is committed to theoff-premises block server 130 or to an on-premises block server (e.g.,120). For example, the commit status indicator may have differentcoloring or different iconography depending on whether the content itemis committed to the off-premises block server 130 or an on-premisesblock server. A reason for the different appearance is to inform a userviewing the commit status indicator which block server the content itemis committed to.

In some example embodiments, a content item must be committed to atleast two block servers in order for the commit status indicator for thecontent item to indicate that the content item is committed. Forexample, a committed commit status indicator (e.g., a green check markgraphic) may be displayed only if the content item is committed to bothblock server 130 and block server 120, or only if the content item iscommitted to at least two on-premises block servers. According to someexample embodiments, committed to a block server refers to at least theaddition of an entry (e.g., 412-2) to a server content item journal(e.g., 410) indicating that all content item blocks of the content item(e.g., as specified by the content item block list 416 of the journalentry 412-2) were stored at the block server at the time of commit. Alsoin this context, there may not be separate commit status indicators forthe committed to an on-premises block server state and for the committedto the off-premises block server states. Instead, there may be a singlecommit status indicator that represents the committed state for acontent item (e.g., a green check mark) when the content item iscommitted to at least two block servers.

In some example embodiments, the number of (e.g., 1, 2, 3, etc.) orwhich block server(s) a content item must be committed to in order for acontent item to be considered committed (and thus, be displayed with acommit status indicator indicated so) is configured on a per-contentitem namespace basis. For example, metadata may be stored in associationwith a content item namespace identifier that specifies a number ofblock server(s) or specifies which block server(s) (e.g., by blockserver identifier) that a content item belonging to the content itemnamespace must be committed to in order for the content item to beconsidered committed.

3.1.4 Example Upload Interactions

Turning now to FIG. 5, it is an interaction diagram 500 showing variousinteractions between personal computing device 110-1, the metadataserver 150, the off-premises block server 130, and the metadata plane180 when the process 200 of FIG. 2 is performed to upload a new contentitem to the off-premises block server 130, according to some exampleembodiments of the present invention.

At step 202, user 102-1 creates or modifies a content item at personalcomputing device 110-1. At step 204, the content item synchronizationagent 114-1 at the personal computing device detects the new contentitem. At step 206, the content item synchronization agent 114-1determines the owning content item namespace of the new content item. Atstep 208, the content item synchronization agent 114-1 computes acontent item block list for the new content item. At step 210, thecontent item synchronization agent 114-1 determines that theoff-premises block server 130 is the target block server. At step 212,the content item synchronization agent 114-1 sends a first commitrequest to the metadata server 150.

At step 214, the metadata server 150 authorizes the first commitrequest. At step 216, the metadata server 150 determines any contentitem block(s) of the new content item that are missing at theoff-premises block server 130. At step 218, the metadata server 150responds to the first commit request with a need content item block listresponse identifying the missing content item block(s).

At step 220, the content item synchronization agent 114-1 uploads themissing content item block(s) to the off-premises block server 130.

At step 222, the off-premises block server 130 stores the uploadedcontent item block(s) in block storage 134. At step 224, theoff-premises block server 130 updates the block list in the metadataplane 180 for the off-premises block server 130 with the content itemblock hash(es) of the missing content item block(s).

At step 226, the content item synchronization agent 114-1 sends a secondcommit request.

At step 228, the metadata server 150 authorizes the second commitrequest. At step 230, the metadata server 150 determines any contentitem block(s) of the new content item that are missing at theoff-premises block server 130. At step 232, upon determining no contentitem blocks are missing, the metadata server 150 adds a new serverjournal entry 412 to the server journal 410 for the new content item.The new server journal entry 412 identifies the owning content itemnamespace and the off-premises block server 130. At step 234, themetadata server 150 responds to the second commit request withconfirmation that the commit was successful. The response may include aserver journal cursor value 417 specific to the owning content itemnamespace and the off-premises block server 130.

At step 236, the content item synchronization agent 114-1 updates thecommit status indicator for the new content item to indicate that thenew content item is committed to the off-premises block server 130.

Turning now to FIG. 6, it is an interaction diagram 600 showing variousinteractions between personal computing device 110-1, the metadataserver 150, on-premises block server 120, and the metadata plane 180when the process 200 of FIG. 2 is performed to upload a content item toon-premises block server 120, according to some example embodiments ofthe present invention. The interaction depicted in diagram 600 issimilar to the interaction depicted in diagram 500. However, there aresome differences related to the target block server being an on-premisesblock server as opposed to the off-premises block server 130.

At step 202, user 102-1 creates or modifies a content item at personalcomputing device 110-1. At step 204, the content item synchronizationagent 114-1 at the personal computing device detects the new contentitem. At step 206, the content item synchronization agent 114-1determines the owning content item namespace of the new content item. Atstep 208, the content item synchronization agent 114-1 computes acontent item block list for the new content item. At step 210, thecontent item synchronization agent 114-1 determines that on-premisesblock server 120 is the target block server. At step 212, the contentitem synchronization agent 114-1 sends a first commit request to themetadata server 150.

At step 214, the metadata server 150 authorizes the first commitrequest. At step 216, the metadata server 150 determines any contentitem block(s) of the new content item that are missing at theon-premises block server 120. At step 218, the metadata server 150responds to the first commit request with a need content item block listresponse identifying the missing content item block(s).

At step 220, the content item synchronization agent 114-1 uploads themissing content item block(s) to the on-premises block server 120.

At step 222, the on-premises block server 120 stores the uploadedcontent item block(s) in block storage 124 of the on-premises blockserver 120. At step 224, the on-premises block server 120 sends one ormore have content item block requests to the metadata server 150 for themissing content item block(s) successfully stored in the block storage124. Also at step 224, the metadata server 150 updates the block list inthe metadata plane 180 for the on-premises block server 120 with thecontent item block hash(es) of the missing content item block(s)specified in the have content item block request(s).

At step 226, the content item synchronization agent 114-1 sends a secondcommit request.

At step 228, the metadata server 150 authorizes the second commitrequest. At step 230, the metadata server 150 determines any contentitem block(s) of the new content item that are missing at theon-premises block server 120. At step 232, upon determining no contentitem blocks are missing, the metadata server 150 adds a new serverjournal entry 412 to the server journal 410 for the new content item.The new server journal entry 412 identifies the owning content itemnamespace and the on-premises block server 120. At step 234, themetadata server 150 responds to the second commit request withconfirmation that the commit was successful. The response may include aserver journal cursor value specific to the owning content itemnamespace and the on-premises block server 120.

At step 236, the content item synchronization agent 114-1 updates thecommit status indicator for the new content item to indicate that thenew content item is committed to the on-premises block server 120.

3.2 Downloading a Content Item

Turning now to FIG. 7, is a flowchart of a process 700 for downloading acontent item from a target block server. The target block server can bean on-premises block server (e.g., 120) or the off-premises block server130 depending on the block server to which the owning content itemnamespace is currently assigned. While steps are described below anddepicted in FIG. 7 in a certain order, no particular order for the stepsis required, unless explicitly stated or implied otherwise. Further,there is no requirement that all steps be performed separately in time,and some steps may be performed concurrently with each other or overlapeach other in time. Further still, some steps may be omitted entirelyand additional steps included according to the requirements of theparticular implementation at hand.

At step 702, a new server journal entry 412 added to the server journal410 is detected. Such detection can be performed by various componentsof the online content management service including, for example, themetadata server 150 or the notification server 140. For example, anetwork message may be generated by the metadata plane 180 and carriedby back-end data bus to the metadata server 150 and/or the notificationserver 140 when a new server journal entry 412 is added to the serverjournal 410. The addition of the new server journal entry 412 representsa new content item belonging to an owning content item namespace thatwas uploaded to a block server. The new server journal entry 412identifies the block server the new content item was uploaded to via theblock server identifier 413 of the new entry 412 and identifies theowning content item namespace of the new content item via content itemnamespace identifier 414 of the new entry 412.

At step 704, the notification server 140 notifies the personal computingdevice(s) (e.g., personal computing device 110-2) at which the owningcontent item namespace of the new content item is mounted. To determinethe personal computing device(s) at which a particular content itemnamespace is mounted, the metadata plane 180 may store information about“linked devices.” In general, a “linked device” is a personal computingdevice (e.g., 110-2) that demonstrates to the online content managementservice that it is “in possession” of a valid user account identifier312. The personal computing device can demonstrate that it is inpossession of a valid user account identifier 312 by providing, fromthat personal computing device, valid authenticated credentials (e.g., avalid username and password) associated with the user account identifier312 to the online content management service (e.g., metadata server 150or web site 170), or an identity provider that provides authenticationservices to the online content management service.

3.2.1 Linked Device Metadata

Turning briefly to FIG. 8 before returning to FIG. 7, FIG. 8 is a blockdiagram of linked device metadata 800 stored in the metadata plane 180,according to some example embodiments of the present invention. Linkeddevice metadata 800 comprises one or more linked device records 810.Each linked device record 810 can have a device identifier 812 thatidentifies a linked personal computing device. Each device record 810can also have a user account identifier 312 that identifies a useraccount record 310. There may be multiple linked device records 810 withthe same user account identifier 312 if, for example, the same user usesmultiple personal computing devices to interact with the online contentmanagement service. However, it is also possible for there to be only asingle linked device record 810 with a given user account identifier312. A linked device record 810 may contain other information inaddition to a device identifier 812 and a user account identifier 312.For example, a linked device record 810 may contain information aboutthe type of linked device, the type of operating system installed on thelinked device, the version of the content item synchronization agentinstalled on the linked device, among other device-specific information.

According to some example embodiments, a linked device record 810 iscreated in the metadata plane 180 for a personal computing device inresponse to a client application executing at the personal computingdevice sending a request to the web site 170 providing valid userauthentication credentials associated with a user account identifier312. For example, the client application can be a web browser executingat the personal computing device by which a user provides the valid userauthentication credentials. In response to the request, the web site 170may create a new linked device record 180 with a device identifier 812that identifies that personal computing device and the valid useraccount identifier 312.

Returning to FIG. 7, at step 704, the content item synchronization 114-2may maintain a long polling connection with the notification server 140.For example, the long polling connection can be a HTTP or HTTPS longpolling connection. For each long polling connection maintained with apersonal computing device, the notification server 140 may associate thedevice identifier 812 of the personal computing device with theconnection. When a new server journal entry 412 is detected at step 702,the content item namespace identifier 414 of the new server journalentry 412 may be used to identify user account record(s) 310 in themetadata plane 180 that have the content item namespace identifier 414as an authorized content item namespace 314. For each such identifieduser account record 310, the linked device records 810 of personalcomputing devices to notify can be identified based on the user accountidentifier(s) 312 of the identified user account record(s) 310. Thenotification server 140 then sends a “ping” message over each longpolling connection associated with a device identifier 812 of thepersonal computing devices determined to require notification. The pingmessage serves to notify the content item synchronization agent at apersonal computing device that updates to one or more content items inone or more content item namespaces mounted at the personal computingdevice are available.

At step 706, in response to receiving a ping message from thenotification server 140, the content item synchronization agent 114-2 atpersonal computing device 110-2 determines the personal computingdevice's 110-2 current client journal cursor value(s) for the contentitem namespace(s) mounted at the personal computing device 110-2. Aclient journal cursor value, according to the first example operation ofthe synchronization protocol, may be content item namespace and blockserver specific. Accordingly, the personal computing device's 110-2current client journal cursor value for a content item namespace and ablock server reflects how up to date the personal computing device 110-2is with respect to content item changes committed to that content itemnamespace and that block server. The personal computing device 110-2 maylocally store at least one current client journal cursor value for eachcontent item namespace mounted at the personal computing device 110-2.The content item synchronization agent 114-2 may update the currentclient journal cursor value for a content item namespace and a blockserver after successfully downloading a new content item belonging tothat content item namespace from that block server.

At step 708, the content item synchronization agent 114-2 sends a “list”request to the metadata server 150. In addition to a user accountidentifier 312 and a device identifier 812, the list request mayspecify, for each of one or more content item namespaces mounted at thepersonal computing device 110-2, the personal computing device's 110-2current client journal cursor value for the content item namespace.Since the personal computing device's 110-2 current client journalcursor values are also block server specific, the list request may alsospecify, in addition to a content item namespace identifier, the blockserver identifier of the block server to which the current clientjournal cursor value pertains. Thus, the list request may specify, inaddition to possibly other information, one or more of the personalcomputing device's 110-2 current client journal cursor values and, foreach of those current client journal cursor values, a content itemnamespace identifier and a block server identifier associated with thecurrent client journal cursor value.

At step 710, the metadata server 150 receives the list request andprocesses it. Processing the list request may include consulting theserver journal 410 in the metadata plane 180. In particular, for each ofa personal computing device's 110-2 current client journal cursor valuesprovided in the list request, the metadata server 150 determines anyserver journal entries 412 that are “newer” than the client journalcursor value provided in the list request. A newer server journal entry412 can be one where the server journal cursor value 417 of the entry isnumerically greater than the personal computing device's 110-2 currentclient journal cursor value and where the block server identifier 413and the content item namespace identifier 414 of the entry 412 matchesthe block server identifier and the content item namespace identifier,respectively, associated with the personal computing device's 110-2current client journal cursor value in the list request. The metadataserver 150 may determine one or more newer server journal entries 412for each of the personal computing device's 110-2 current client journalcursor values specified in the list request.

At step 712, the metadata server 150 responds to the list request. Theresponse may include information from each newer server journal entry412 identified at step 710. In particular, the response may include allof the following information for each newer server journal entry 412, ora subset or a super set thereof:

-   -   The block server identifier 413 of the newer server journal        entry 412;    -   The content item namespace identifier 414 of the newer server        journal entry 412;    -   The content item relative path 415 of the newer server journal        entry 412;    -   The content item block list 416 of the newer server journal        entry 412; and    -   The server journal cursor value 417 of the newer server journal        entry 412.

If multiple newer server journal entries 412 identified at step 710pertain to the same content item, then only the most recent of themultiple newer server journal entries 412 may be returned in theresponse to the list request. Multiple newer server journal entries 412may be considered to pertain to the same content item if they have thesame values for the block server identifier 413, the content itemnamespace identifier 414, and relative path 415 fields, but havedifferent server journal cursor values 417. For example, two updates mayhave been made to the same content item since a last synchronizationoperation. In this case, the newer server journal entry 412 with thehighest (most recent) server journal cursor value 417 of the multiplenewer server journal entries 412 supersedes the others of the multiplenewer server journal entries 412. That newer server journal entry 412with the highest (most recent) server journal cursor value 417 may bereturned in the response to the list request and the others notreturned.

At step 714, the content item synchronization agent 114-2 determines thecontent item block(s) that are missing from local storage 112-2 of thepersonal computing device 110-2. This determination may be based on thecontent item block list(s) 416 of the newer entry or newer serverjournal entries 412 received in the response to the list request fromthe metadata server 150 at step 712. This determination may also bebased on a content item client journal, or just “client journal”, thatthe content item synchronization agent 114-2 maintains locally (e.g., inlocal storage 112-2) to track the content item block(s) stored in localstorage 112-2 of the personal computing device 110-2. In particular, theclient journal may store a content item block list for each currentversion of each content item belonging to a mounted content itemnamespace stored in local storage 112-2. The content item block list fora current version of a content item identifies the content item block(s)of the current version. Each block list in the client journal may beassociated in the client journal with an identifier of the owningcontent item namespace and the relative path to the content item. For agiven newer server journal entry 412 received from the metadata server150 in response to the list request, the content item synchronizationagent 114-2 can compare the block list 416 of the newer server journalentry 412 to a block list in the client journal that is associated inthe client journal with the content item namespace identifier 414 of thenewer server journal entry 412 and the content item relative path 415 ofthe newer server journal entry 412. Any content item block hash(es) inthe newer server journal entry's 412 block list 416 that are not in thecorresponding block list in the client journal correspond to contentitem block(s) that are missing from the current version of thecorresponding content item stored in local storage 112-2 of the personalcomputing device 110-2.

At step 716, the content item synchronization agent 114-2 downloads anymissing content item block(s) identified at step 714. The missingcontent item block(s) may be stored at different block servers or all atthe same block server as specified in the response to the list request.To download one or more missing content item blocks from a block server,the content item synchronization agent 114-2 sends a “retrieve” requestto the block server specifying the content item block hash(es) of themissing content item block(s) in the retrieve request.

At step 716, the content item synchronization agent 114-2 downloads themissing content item block(s) from one or more target block servers. Inparticular, each block server that receives a retrieve request from thecontent item synchronization agent 114-2 may return a response to theretrieve request containing the content item block(s) corresponding tothe content item block hash(es) specified in the retrieve request.Downloading a content item block from a block server may proceedaccording to a delta encoding scheme such as, for example, the oneemployed by the known rsync algorithm. In this case, downloading acontent item block from a block server may include downloading only adelta between the content item block as stored at the block server acontent item block already stored at the personal computing device110-2. Accordingly, reference to downloading a content item block from ablock server encompasses both downloading the entire content item blockfrom the block server, or just the delta between a content item blockand another content item block.

At step 718, the content item synchronization agent 114-2 stores thedownloaded content item block(s) as or as part of one or more filesstored in a file system of local storage 112-2. This storing may involvecreating new files in the file system and/or updating existing files inthe file system based on the downloaded content item block(s). Forexample, for a given content item block downloaded from a block serverfor a content item corresponding to newer server journal entry 412received in response to the list request, the content itemsynchronization agent 114-2 can determine the file in the file system tocreate or update with the given content item block based on the contentitem mount point folder at the personal computing device 110-2 of thecontent item namespace identified 414 in the newer server journal entry412 and the relative path 415 in the newer server journal entry 412.

According to some example embodiments, content item(s) created orupdated at step 718 based on one or more newer server journal entries412 for a given content item namespace are created or updated insequence and in order of the server journal cursor value(s) 417 of thenewer server journal entries 412. For example, assume at step 708, thecontent item synchronization agent 114-2 sends a list request specifyinga current client journal cursor value of ‘17’ for content item namespace‘ABC123’ and block server ‘JKL101’. Further, assume that in response tothe list request, the content item synchronization agent 114-2 receives,at step 712, in response to the list request, three newer server journalentries 412 for content item namespace ‘ABC123’ and block server‘JKL101’ having server journal cursor values ‘18’, ‘19’, and ‘20’,respectively. Then, after downloading any missing content item block(s)corresponding to the three newer server journal entries 412 from blockserver JKL101′, the content item synchronization agent 114-2 may createor update the content item corresponding to the newer server journalentry 412 having server journal cursor value ‘18’ first, followed bycreating or updating the content item corresponding to the newer serverjournal entry 412 having server journal cursor value ‘19’, and finallyby creating or updating the content item corresponding to the newerserver journal entry 412 having server journal cursor value ‘20’.

At step 720, the content item synchronization agent 114-2 updates thepersonal computing device's 110-2 current client journal cursor value(s)for successfully created or updated content item(s) in the local storage112-2 based on the content item block(s) successfully downloaded andstored at steps 716 and 718. In particular, for a given content itemcreated or updated in the local storage 112-2 based on a corresponding anewer server journal entry 412 received in response to a list request,the personal computing device's 110-2 current client journal cursorvalue for the content item namespace 414 and the block server 413identified in the corresponding newer server journal entry 412 isupdated so that it matches the server journal cursor value 417 of thecorresponding newer server journal entry 412. As mentioned above,content item(s) created or updated at step 720 based on one or morenewer server journal entries 412 for a given content item namespace maybe created or updated in sequence and in order of the journal cursorvalue(s) 417 of the newer server journal entries 412. Similarly, thepersonal computing device's 110-2 current client journal cursor valuefor a given content item namespace may be incremented at step 722 insequence and in order of the journal cursor value(s) 417 of the newerserver journal entries 412.

3.2.2 Example Download Interaction

Turning now to FIG. 9, it is an interaction diagram 900 showing variousinteractions between personal computing device 110-2, the notificationserver 140, the metadata server 150, a target block server, and themetadata plane 180 when the process 700 of FIG. 7 is performed todownload a content item from an on-premises block server (e.g., 120) oran off-premises block server 130, according to some example embodimentsof the present invention.

As in step 704, the notification server 140 sends a ping message to thecontent item synchronization agent 114-2 at the personal computingdevice 110-2.

As in step 706, the content item synchronization agent 114-2 determinesthe current client journal cursor value(s) for one or more content itemnamespaces mounted at the personal computing device 110-2. Each suchcurrent client journal cursor value reflects how up to date the personalcomputing device 110-2 is with respect to changes to the content itemnamespace uploaded to a corresponding block server. As in step 708, thecontent item synchronization agent 114-2 sends a list request to themetadata server 150.

As in step 710, the metadata server 150 determines any newer journalentries 412 in the server journal 410 for each current client journalcursor value specified in the list request. As in step 712, the metadataserver 150 sends the list of newer journal entries 412 to the device110-2.

As in step 714, the content item synchronization agent 114-2 determinesany content item block(s) specified in the newer journal entries 412that are not already stored at the device 110-2. This determination maybe based on comparing the content item block lists 416 of the newerjournal entries 412 to content block list(s) of known content item blockhashes for content item blocks that are already stored at the personalcomputing device 110-2. As in step 716, the content item synchronizationagent 114-2 downloads any missing content item block(s) from one or moretarget block servers. In particular, for each newer journal entry 412for which one or more content item blocks are missing at the personalcomputing device 110-2, the content item synchronization agent 114-2attempts to download the missing content item block(s) from the blockserver identified 413 in the entry 412. As in step 718, the content itemsynchronization agent 114-2 creates or updates one or more content itemsin a local file system of the personal computing device 110-2 based onthe download content item block(s). As in step 720, the content itemsynchronization agent 114-2 updates the current client journal cursorvalues when the newer journal entries 412 have been successfullyprocessed.

4.0 Second Example Synchronization Protocol Operation

In a variation on the above-described first example synchronizationprotocol operation, client and server journal cursor values are specificonly to content item namespaces and not combinations of a content itemnamespace and a block server as in the first example synchronizationprotocol operation described above. In this, the second variation, themetadata server 150 can respond to a commit request from a content itemsynchronization agent with options of one or more block servers to whichthe content item synchronization agent can upload missing content itemblocks. Also in this variation, the metadata server 150 can respond to alist request from a content item synchronization agent with options ofone or more computing devices from which missing content item blocks canbe downloaded. In the case of a response to a list request, thecomputing device options can include other personal computing devices(e.g., 110-1, 110-2) in addition to or instead of block servers (e.g.,120 or 130), thereby facilitating peer-to-peer operations.

The synchronization protocol variant will now be described with emphasison the differences between the variant and the uploading and downloadingprocesses as described above with respect to FIG. 2 and FIG. 7.

4.1 Uploading Process

Turning now to FIG. 10, it is a flow diagram illustrating a process 1000for uploading a new content item from personal computing device 110-1 toa “target” block server, according to some example embodiments of thepresent invention. The target block can be an on-premises block server(e.g., 102) or the off-premises block server 130. While steps aredescribed below and depicted in FIG. 10 in a certain order, noparticular order for the steps is required, unless explicitly statedotherwise. Further, there is no requirement that all steps be performedseparately in time, and some steps may be performed concurrently witheach other or overlap each other in time. Further still, some steps maybe omitted entirely and additional steps included according to therequirements of the particular implementation at hand.

At step 1002, user 102-1 adds or modifies a “new” content item in localstorage 112-1 of personal computing device 110-1 as in step 202described above with respect to FIG. 2.

At step 1004, the content item synchronization agent 114-1 at thepersonal computing device 110-1 detects the new content item in thelocal storage 112-1 as in step 204 described above with respect to FIG.2.

At step 1006, the content item synchronization agent 114-1 determinesthe content item namespace, if any, to which the new content itembelongs as in step 206 described above with respect to FIG. 2.

At step 1008, the content item synchronization 114-1 computes a contentitem block list for the new content item as in step 208 described abovewith respect to FIG. 2.

At this point in the uploading process 1000, the content itemsynchronization agent 114-1 has determined (step 1006) the identifier(e.g., ‘DEF456’) of the owning content item namespace of the new contentitem and has computed (step 1008) the content item block list for thenew content item. In process 1000, a step like step 210 described abovewith respect to FIG. 2 is not required to be performed, although it maybe. In particular, for upload process 1000, it is not necessary thatnamespace to block server assignments be stored at the personalcomputing device 110-1, although they can be.

At step 1010, the content item synchronization agent 114-1 sends a first“commit” request to the metadata server 150. In particular, the firstcommit request, in addition to a user account identifier 312 and adevice identifier 812, may include all of the following information, ora subset or a superset thereof:

-   -   The identifier (e.g., ‘DEF456’) of the owning content item        namespace;    -   The relative file system path of the new content item relative        to the content item namespace mount point folder of the owning        content item namespace at the personal computing device 110-1;        and    -   The content item block list for the new content item.

For extra security, the commit request sent at step 1010 may be sent viaLAN 160 and WAN 190 over an encrypted network connection such as, forexample, a network connection secured with Transport Layer Security(TLS) or Secure Sockets Layer (SSL).

At step 1012, the metadata server 150 authorizes the first commitrequest received from the content item synchronization agent 114-1. Thisauthorizing may include verifying that content item namespace identifier314 of the owning content item namespace specified in the first commitrequest is one of the authorized content item namespace identifier(s)314 of the user account record 310 in the metadata plane 180corresponding to the user account identifier 312 specified in the firstcommit request. If not, then the metadata server 150 may deny the firstcommit request and return an appropriate error message to the contentitem synchronization agent 114-1.

At step 1014, the metadata server 150 determines one or more “candidate”block servers to which the owning content item namespace specified inthe first commit request is assigned. This determination may be made byconsulting namespace to block server assignments stored in the metadataplane 180. The owning content item namespace may be assigned to just theoff-premises block server 130, to just an on-premises block server(e.g., 120), to more than one on-premises block server, or to one ormore on-premises block servers and the off-premises block server 130.

At step 1016, the metadata server 150 determines, for each of the one ormore candidate block servers, which, if any, of the content itemblock(s) of the new content item are not yet stored at the candidateblock server. To do this, the metadata server 150 may consult thecandidate block server's block list in the metadata plane 180. Themetadata server 150 may identify the candidate block server's block listin the metadata plane 180 based on the block server identifier for thecandidate block server. For each content item block hash in the contentitem block list for the new content item in the first commit request,the metadata server 150 determines if the content item block hash is inthe candidate block server's block list. If not, then the metadataserver 150 determines that the corresponding content item block ismissing from the candidate block server. Otherwise, the metadata server150 determines that the corresponding content item block is alreadystored at the candidate block server.

At step 1018, the metadata server 150 responds to the first commitrequest with a response specifying one or more need content item blocklists. The response may include one need content item block list foreach candidate block server. The need content item block list for acandidate block server includes any content item block hashes in thecontent item block list for the new content item sent in the commitrequest that the metadata server 150 determines at step 1016 is missingfrom the candidate block server's block list. Thus, a need content itemblock list for a candidate block server may specify all or a subset ofthe content item block hashes in the content item block list for the newcontent item sent in the first commit request, depending on whichcontent item block(s) are missing at the candidate block server.

At step 1020, the content item synchronization agent 114 selects atarget block server to upload the new content item to. The selection maybe based on information in the response to the commit request receivedfrom the metadata server 150. In particular, the response may includeidentifiers of one or more candidate block servers and associated witheach such identifier a need content item block list. The response mayinclude other information associated with a candidate block serveridentifier such as whether the candidate block server is an on-premisesblock server (e.g., 120) or the off-premises block server 130. The otherinformation may also include network performance information and blockserver load information. The network performance information may includea qualitative or quantitative assessment of the current or historicalperformance of a network to which a candidate block server is connected.The block server load information may include a qualitative orquantitative assessment of the current or historical load on thecomputing resources (e.g., CPU, memory, storage, etc.) of a candidateblock server. The content item synchronization 114-1 may also maintainlocally (e.g., in local storage 112) network and block serverperformance information for various block servers. In particular, theperformance information for a block server may be based on upload timesfor content item blocks uploaded to the block server in the past. Forexample, when the content item synchronization agent 114-1 makes a storerequest to a block server that includes one or more content item blocks,the content item synchronization agent 114-1 may measure the clock timebetween when the store request is sent and a response to the storerequest received from the block server. Based on these clock times, thecontent item synchronization agent 114-1 can calculate an average uploadtime and/or average throughput (e.g., in megabits per second) thatreflects the performance of the network connecting the personalcomputing device 110-1 to the block server.

Based on all of the following information, or a subset or a supersetthereof, the content item synchronization agent 114-1 selects one of theone or more candidate block servers as the target block server to uploadthe new content item to:

-   -   The number of candidate block servers. For example, if only one        candidate block server is available, then that candidate block        server may be selected as the target block server;    -   The number of content item blocks of the new content item that        are missing from each candidate block server. For example, if        multiple candidate block servers are available, the candidate        block server that would require uploading the fewest number of        content item blocks among all of the multiple candidate block        servers may be selected as the target block server;    -   Network performance information for one or more of the candidate        block servers provided by the metadata server 150 in the        response to the first commit request;    -   Server load information for one or more of the candidate block        servers provided by the metadata server 150 in the response to        the first commit request;    -   A historical average content item block upload time for one or        more of the candidate block servers; and/or    -   A historical average content item block upload throughput for        one or more of the candidate block servers.

According to some example embodiments, the content item synchronizationagent 114-1 calculates an expected upload time for each candidate blockserver based on the number of content item blocks of the new contentitem to upload to the candidate block server and one or more networkperformance metrics pertaining to the candidate block server. Variousdifferent network performance metrics are possible. For example, anetwork performance metric can be a historical average content itemblock upload time for the candidate block server or a historical averagecontent item block upload throughput for the candidate block server. Forexample, assume one hundred and one (101) content item blocks totaling410,624 Bytes in size are missing from a candidate on-premises blockserver (e.g., 120) and fifty one (51) content item blocks totaling205,824 Bytes in size are missing from the candidate off-premises blockserver 130. Further, assume that the historical average content itemblock upload throughput for the candidate on-premises block server is 20Mbits/second and the historical average content item block uploadthroughput for the candidate off-premises block server 130 is 3Mbits/second, the content item synchronization agent 114-1 may selectthe candidate on-premises block server as the target server even thoughthere are more bytes to upload to the candidate on-premises blockserver. This selection may be made because the expected total uploadtime to the candidate on-premises block server is less than one-third(⅓) that of the expected total upload time to the candidate off-premisesblock server 130.

According to some example embodiments, candidate block servers areprioritized and the content item synchronization agent 114-1 selects oneof the candidate block servers as the target block server based on theirrespective priorities. For example, the response to the first commitrequest provided by the metadata server 150 to the synchronization agent114-1 may include a priority associated with each candidate block serveridentifier. The priority may be a numerical value by which all of thecandidate block servers may be ordered according to their priorities.The priorities may be user-specified. For example, when assigning acontent item namespace to multiple block servers, for example, byinteracting with web site 170, a user may specify a priority order tothe multiple block servers. For example, a user may specify that anon-premises block server (e.g., 120) is to be preferred for a givencontent item namespace over the off-premises block server 130, or that afirst on-premises block server is to be preferred over a secondon-premises block server which are both preferred over the off-premisesblock server 130. When multiple candidate block servers are availablefor selection, the candidate block server associated with the highest orbest priority may be selected as the target block server. The prioritiesassociated with the multiple candidate block servers may also first beweighted before one of the multiple candidate block servers is selectedas the target block server. The weighting of priorities may be based onother information available to the content item synchronization agent114-1 such as, for example, the number of content item blocks of the newcontent item that are missing from each candidate block server, networkperformance information for one or more of the candidate block serversprovided by the metadata server 150 in the response to the first commitrequest, server load information for one or more of the candidate blockservers provided by the metadata server 150 in the response to the firstcommit request, a historical average content item block upload time forone or more of the candidate block servers, and/or a historical averagecontent item block upload throughput for one or more of the candidateblock servers.

At step 1022, the content item synchronization agent 114-2 uploads anymissing content item block(s) of the new content item to the targetblock server as in step 220 described above with respect to FIG. 2.

At step 1024, the block service (e.g., 122 or 132) of the target blockserver (e.g., 120 or 130) stores the missing content item block(s) inthe target block server's block storage (e.g., 124 or 134) as in step222 described above with respect to FIG. 2.

At step 1026, the target block server updates the target block server'sblock server block list in the metadata plane 180 with the content itemblock hash(es) of the uploaded content item block(s) as in step 224described above with respect to FIG. 2.

At step 1028, the content item synchronization agent 114 sends a secondcommit request to the metadata server 150. The second commit request maycontain the same information sent in the first commit request to themetadata server 150 at step 1010 as described above. In addition, thesecond commit request may specify the block server identifier of thetarget block server selected at step 1020 as described above. However,there is no requirement that the content item synchronization agent114-1 send the block server identifier of the selected target blockserver in the second commit request.

At step 1030, the metadata server 150 may authorize the second requestas it did with the first commit request in step 1012 as described above.

At step 1032, assuming the second commit request is authorized, themetadata server 150 determines if any content item block(s) identifiedin the new content item's block list are missing from the target blockserver according to the target block server's content item block list inthe metadata plane 180. This time, since the missing content itemblock(s) were uploaded to the target block server after the first commitrequest, the metadata server 150 should determine that no content itemblock(s) for the new content item are missing at the target blockserver. The metadata server 150 may make this determination if the blockserver identifier of the target block server is specified in the secondcommit request. Using the target block server's identifier and thecontent item block hash(es) in the new content item's block list, themetadata server 150 can consult the target block server's content itemblock list in the metadata plane 180 to determine whether any contentitem hash(es) in the new content item's block list are missing from thetarget block server's content item block list. If so, then the newcontent item is not yet uploaded to the target block server, and thesecond commit request may be treated by the metadata server 150 like thefirst commit request, and the process 1000 may return to step 1014 andcontinue from there. In this case, determining the missing content itemblock(s) at the target block server as in step 1016 need not beperformed again as this determination has already been made. However,the determination of missing content item block(s) at step 1016 may bemade for the other candidate block server(s), if any. On the other hand,if none of the content item block hash(es) are missing, then the newcontent item has been completely uploaded to the target block server andthe process 1000 continues with step 1034 to commit the new content itemto the online content management service.

If, on the other hand, the block server identifier of the target blockserver is not specified in the second commit request, then, at step1032, the metadata server 150 determines if at least one candidate blockserver, of the one or more candidate block servers to which the owningcontent item namespace specified in the second commit request isassigned, stores all content item block(s) identified in the new contentitem's block list. This determination may involve performing a step like1014 described above as a sub-step of step 1032 to determine the one ormore candidate block servers to which the owning content item namespaceis assigned and performing a step like 1016 described above as asub-step of step 1032 to determine if at least one candidate blockserver stores all content item block(s) identified in the new contentitem's block list. If at least one candidate block server stores allcontent item block(s) identified in the new content item's block list,then the new content item has been completely uploaded to at least onecandidate block server and the upload process 1000 continues with step1034 to commit the new content item to the online content managementservice. On the other hand, if none of the candidate block server(s)store all of the content item block(s) of the new content item, then thenew content item is not yet uploaded to a candidate block server, thesecond commit request may be treated by the metadata server 150 like thefirst commit request, and the process 1000 may return to step 1014 andcontinue from there, skipping any determinations that have already beenmade.

4.1.1 Content Item Server Journal

At step 1034, the metadata server 150, after determining that no contentitem block(s) for the new content item are missing from the target blockserver or at least one candidate block server, adds a new journal entryto a content item server journal, or just “server journal” in themetadata plane 180. The content item server journal is used to track theversions of content items committed to the online content managementservice on a per-content item namespace basis.

Turning briefly to FIG. 11, it is a block diagram of a server journal1110. The server journal 1110 may be stored in the metadata plane 180.The server journal 1110 includes a number of journal entries 1112. A newjournal entry 1112 is added (e.g., appended) to the server journal 1110when a new content item is completely uploaded to a block server. Forexample, the metadata server 150 may add a new journal entry 1112 to theserver journal 1110 after determining in response to receiving thesecond commit request from a content item synchronization agent 114 thatno content item block(s) for the new content item are missing from thetarget block server.

Each journal entry 1112 in the server journal 1110 may include a contentitem namespace identifier 1114, a relative content item path 1115, acontent item block list 1116, and a server journal cursor value 1117.The content item namespace identifier 1114 identifies the content itemnamespace to which the new content item belongs (i.e., the owningcontent item namespace). The path 1115 specifies a relative file systempath of the new content item, relative to a mount point of the contentitem namespace to which the new content item belongs. The content itemblock list 1116 contains one or more content item block hashesidentifying the one or more content item blocks that make up the newcontent item. The server journal cursor value 1117 is content itemnamespace specific. In particular, the metadata server 150 may maintaina separate server journal cursor for each unique content item namespaceunder management of the online content management service. The severjournal cursor for a content item namespace is increased (e.g.,incremented) when a new content item in the content item namespace iscommitted to the online content management service. For example, theserver journal cursor for a content item namespace may be amonotonically increasing value.

For example, if the server journal cursor value 1117 for the mostrecently added journal entry 1112 for content item namespace ‘DEF456’ is‘17’, then the new server journal entry 1112 added at step 1034 for anew content item belonging to the same content item namespace might havea server journal cursor value of ‘18’. The server journal cursors fordifferent content item namespaces may be incremented independently ofeach other as new content items belonging to the different content itemnamespaces are committed to the online content management service.

The server journal 1110 can store server journals for multiple contentitem namespaces. In particular, all of the entries 1112 in the serverjournal 1110 having the same content item namespace identifier 1114 maybe considered that content item namespace's server journal. In somealternative embodiments, a physically separate server journal is storedin the metadata plane 180 for each content item namespace undermanagement. Other storage arrangements are possible includingpartitioning or sharding the server journal 1110 over multiple servercomputing devices of the metadata plane 180. In this case, the contentitem namespace identifier 1114 may be used as the partitioning key orthe sharding key.

At step 1036, after adding the new journal entry 1112 to the serverjournal 1110, the metadata server 150 responds to the second commitrequest from the content item synchronization agent 114-1. Inparticular, the metadata server 150 sends a response that indicates tothe content item synchronization agent 114-1 that the new content itemwas successfully committed to the online content management service. Inaddition, the response may include the journal cursor value 1117 for theowning content item namespace from the new server journal entry 1112that was added.

At step 1038, the content item synchronization agent 114-1 may locallystore (e.g., in local storage 112-1) the server journal cursor value1117 for future reference. When storing locally, the content itemsynchronization 114-1 may associate the server journal cursor value 1117with the owning content item namespace identifier to which the serverjournal cursor value 1117 pertains. In addition, now that the newcontent item has been successfully committed to the online contentmanagement service, the content item synchronization agent 114-1 mayupdate a commit status indicator for the new content item depending onwhich target block server (e.g., 120 or 130) the missing content itemblock(s) of the new content item were uploaded to, as described abovewith respect to step 236 of upload process 200.

4.1.2 Example Upload Interactions

FIG. 12 provides an interaction diagram 1200 showing variousinteractions between personal computing device 110-1, the metadataserver 150, the off-premises block server 130, and the metadata plane180 when the upload process 1000 of FIG. 10 is performed to upload a newcontent item to the target block server, according to some exampleembodiments of the present invention. The interaction diagram 1200represents upload process 1000 when the target block server is theoff-premises block server 130. FIG. 13 is an interaction diagram 1300representing the upload process 1000 when the target block server is theon-premises block server 120, according to some example embodiments ofthe present invention.

At step 1002, user 102-1 creates or modifies a content item at personalcomputing device 110-1. At step 1004, the content item synchronizationagent 114-1 at the personal computing device detects the new contentitem. At step 1006, the content item synchronization agent 114-1determines the owning content item namespace of the new content item. Atstep 1008, the content item synchronization agent 114-1 computes acontent item block list for the new content item. At step 1010, thecontent item synchronization agent 114-1 sends a first commit request tothe metadata server 150.

At step 1012, the metadata server 150 authorizes the first commitrequest. At step 1014, the metadata server 150 determines one or morecandidate block servers for the owning content item namespace specifiedin the first commit request. At step 1016, the metadata server 150determines any content item block(s) of the new content item that aremissing at each of the candidate block server(s) determined at step1014. At step 1018, the metadata server 150 responds to the first commitrequest with a need content item block list response identifying themissing content item block(s) at each of the candidate block server(s).

At step 1020, the content item synchronization agent 114-1 selects oneof the candidate block server(s) as the target block server based onvarious factors such as the ones discussed above. At step 1022, thecontent item synchronization agent 114-1 uploads the missing contentitem block(s) to target block server.

At step 1024, if the target block server is the off-premises blockserver 130, then the off-premises block server 130 stores the uploadedcontent item block(s) in block storage 134 and at step 1026, theoff-premises block server 130 updates the block list in the metadataplane 180 for the off-premises block server 130 with the content itemblock hash(es) of the uploaded content item block(s).

While interaction diagram 1200 represents the upload process 1000 whenthe target block server is the off-premises block server 130, if thetarget block server were the on-premises block server 120, then, asshown in the interaction diagram 1300 of FIG. 13, at step 1024, theon-premises block server 120 stores the uploaded content item block(s)in block storage 124 and, at step 1026, sends one or more have contentitem block requests to the metadata server 150. Also at step 1026, ifthe target block server is the on-premises block server 120, then themetadata server 150 updates the block list for the on-premises blockserver 120 in the metadata plane 180 with the content item blockhash(es) of the uploaded content item block(s).

At step 1028, the content item synchronization agent 114-1 sends asecond commit request. The second commit request may specify theidentifier of the target block server selected at step 1020.

At step 1030, the metadata server 150 authorizes the second commitrequest. At step 1032, the metadata server 150 determines any contentitem block(s) of the new content item that are missing at the targetblock server, if the target block server is specified in the secondcommit request. If the target block server is not specified in thesecond commit request, then the metadata server 150 determines one ormore candidate block servers for the owning content item namespace as instep 104 and then confirms that at least one of the candidate blockserver(s) is not missing any content item block(s) of the new contentitem. At step 1034, upon confirming that no content item blocks of thenew content item are missing from the target block server or at leastone candidate block server, the metadata server 150 adds a new serverjournal entry 1112 to the server journal 1110 for the new content item.At step 1036, the metadata server 150 responds to the second commitrequest with confirmation that the commit was successful. The responsemay include a server journal cursor value 1117 specific to the owningcontent item namespace.

At step 1038, the content item synchronization agent 114-1 updates thecommit status indicator for the new content item to indicate that thenew content item is committed to the target block server.

4.2 Downloading Process

Turning now to FIG. 14 is a flowchart of a process 1400 for downloadinga content item from a target block server, according to some exampleembodiments of the present invention. While steps are described belowand depicted in FIG. 14 in a certain order, no particular order for thesteps is required, unless explicitly stated or implied otherwise.Further, there is no requirement that all steps be performed separatelyin time, and some steps may be performed concurrently with each other oroverlap each other in time. Further still, some steps may be omittedentirely and additional steps included according to the requirements ofthe particular implementation at hand.

At step 1402, a new server journal entry 1112 added to the serverjournal 1110 is detected. Such detection can be performed by variouscomponents of the online content management service including, forexample, the metadata server 150 or the notification server 140. Forexample, a network message may be generated by the metadata plane 180and carried by back-end data bus to the metadata server 150 and/or thenotification server 140 when a new server journal entry 1112 is added tothe server journal 1110. The addition of the new server journal entry1112 represents a new content item belonging to an owning content itemnamespace that was recently committed to the online content managementservice. The new server journal entry 1112 identifies the owning contentitem namespace of the new content item via content item namespaceidentifier 1114 of the new server journal entry 1112.

At step 1404, the notification server 140 notifies a personal computingdevice 110-2 at which the owning content item namespace is mounted as instep 704 of the download process 700 described above with respect toFIG. 7.

At step 1406, in response to receiving a ping message from thenotification server 140, the content item synchronization agent 114-2 atpersonal computing device 110-2 determines the personal computingdevice's 110-2 current client journal cursor value(s) for the contentitem namespace(s) mounted at the personal computing device 110-2. Inthis variant of the synchronization protocol, a client journal cursorvalue may be content item namespace specific. Accordingly, the personalcomputing device's 110-2 current client journal cursor value for acontent item namespace reflects how up-to-date the personal computingdevice 110-2 is with respect to content item changes committed to thatcontent item namespace to the online content management service. Thepersonal computing device 110-2 may locally store a current clientjournal cursor value for each content item namespace mounted at thepersonal computing device 110-2. The content item synchronization agent114-2 may update the current client journal cursor value for a mountedcontent item namespace after successfully downloading a new content itemfrom a block server.

At step 1408, the content item synchronization agent 114-2 sends a“list” request to the metadata server 150. In addition to a user accountidentifier 312 and a device identifier 812, the list request mayspecify, for each of one or more content item namespaces mounted at thepersonal computing device 110-2, the personal computing device's 110-2current client journal cursor value for the content item namespace.Since the personal computing device's 110-2 current client journalcursor values are content item namespace specific, the list request mayalso specify the content item namespace identifier of the content itemnamespace to which the current client journal cursor value pertains.Thus, the list request may specify one or more of the personal computingdevice's 110-2 current client journal cursor values and, for each ofthose current client journal cursor values, a content item namespaceidentifier.

At step 1410, the metadata server 150 receives the list request and,based on information in the list request, identifies newer serverjournal entries 1112 in the server journal 1110. A newer server journalentry 1112 can be one where the server journal cursor value 1117 of theentry is numerically greater than the personal computing device's 110-2current client journal cursor value and where the content item namespaceidentifier 1114 of the entry 1112 matches the content item namespaceidentifier associated with the personal computing device's 110-2 currentclient journal cursor value in the list request. The metadata server 150may determine one or more newer server journal entries 1112 for each ofthe personal computing device's 110-2 client journal cursor valuesspecified in the list request, assuming a newer server journal entry1112 exists in the server journal 1110 for a given client journal cursorvalue.

At step 1412, the metadata server 150 determines one or more candidateblock servers for each content item namespace specified in the listrequest to which the content item namespace is assigned. Thisdetermination may be made by consulting the namespace to block serverassignments stored in the metadata plane 180 for each of the specifiedcontent item namespaces. Each of the content item namespaces may beassigned to just the off-premises block server 130, to just anon-premises block server (e.g., 120), to more than one on-premises blockserver, or to one or more on-premises block servers and the off-premisesblock server 130.

At step 1414, the metadata server 150 returns a response to the listrequest. The response may include information from each newer serverjournal entry 1112 identified at step 1410 and include information aboutnamespace to block server assignments determined at step 1412. Inparticular, the response may include all of the following informationfor each newer server journal entry 1112, or a subset or a super setthereof:

-   -   The content item namespace identifier 1114 of the newer server        journal entry 1112;    -   The content item relative path 1115 of the newer server journal        entry 1112;    -   The content item block list 1116 of the newer server journal        entry 1112; and    -   The server journal cursor value 1117 of the newer server journal        entry 1112.

If multiple newer server journal entries 1112 identified at step 1412pertain to the same content item, then only the most recent of themultiple newer server journal entries 1112 may be returned in theresponse to the list request. Multiple newer server journal entries 1112may pertain to the same content item if they have the same values forthe content item namespace identifier 1114 and relative path 1115fields, but have different server journal cursor values 1117. Forexample, two updates may have been made to the same content item since alast synchronization operation. In this case, the newer server journalentry 1112 with the highest (most recent) server journal cursor value1117 of the multiple newer server journal entries 1112 supersedes theothers of the multiple newer server journal entries 1112. That newerserver journal entry 1112 with the highest (most recent) server journalcursor value 1117 may be returned in the response to the list requestand the others not returned.

In addition, the response to the list request may include, for eachcontent item namespace specified in the list request, the block serveridentifier(s) of one or more block servers to which the content itemnamespace is currently assigned. The namespace to block serverassignments may be based on user input provided through web site 170 byusers with the appropriate permissions to make such assignments. Thepermissions may be content item namespace specific. For example, a usermay be able to assign to block servers only the authorized content itemnamespace(s) 314 of the user's account record 310.

According to some example embodiments, the information returned in theresponse to the list request for each newer server journal entry 1112identifies one or more candidate block servers from which all of thecontent item block(s) identified by the content item block list 1116 ofthe newer server journal entry 1112 can be downloaded. To make thisdetermination, the metadata server 150 may verify, for each candidateblock server assigned to the content item namespace identified 1114 inthe newer server journal entry 1112, that all of the content item blockhashes of the content item block list 1116 of the newer server journalentry 1112 are in the candidate block server's block list stored in themetadata plane 180. If so, then all of the content item block(s)identified by the content item block list 1116 of the newer serverjournal entry 1112 can be downloaded from that candidate block server.

At step 1416, the content item synchronization agent 114-2 determinesthe content item block(s) that are missing from local storage 112-2 ofthe personal computing device 110-2. This determination may be based onthe content item block list(s) 1116 of the newer entry or newer entries1112 received in the response to the list request from the metadataserver 150 at step 1414. This determination may also be based on acontent item client journal, or just “client journal”, that the contentitem synchronization agent 114-2 maintains locally (e.g., in localstorage 112-2) to track the content item block(s) stored in localstorage 112-2 of the personal computing device 110-2. In particular, theclient journal may store a content item block list for each currentversion of each content item belonging to a mounted content itemnamespace stored in local storage 112-2. Each block list in the clientjournal may be associated in the client journal with an identifier ofthe owning content item namespace and the relative path to the contentitem. For a given newer entry 1112 received from the metadata server 150in response to the list request, the content item synchronization agent114-2 can compare the block list 1116 of the newer entry 1112 to a blocklist in the client journal that is associated in the client journal withthe content item namespace identifier 1114 of the newer entry 1112 andthe content item relative path 1115 of the newer entry 1112. Any contentitem block hash(es) in the newer entry's 1112 block list 1116 that arenot in the corresponding block list in the client journal correspond tocontent item block(s) that are missing from the current version of thecorresponding content item stored in local storage 112-2 of the personalcomputing device 110-2.

At step 1418, the content item synchronization agent 114-2 downloads anymissing content item block(s) identified at step 1416. The missingcontent item block(s) may be stored at different block servers or all atthe same block server as indicated in the response to the list request.In addition, the content item block(s) missing for a given content itemmay be available at multiple candidate block servers. In this case, thecontent item synchronization agent 114-2 can select one of the candidateblock servers to download the missing block(s) from. This selection maybe based on criteria similar to that discussed above with respect toselection of a target block server for uploading purposes. However,network performance criteria may be based on past block download timesinstead of past block upload times.

To download one or more missing content item blocks from a block server,the content item synchronization agent 114-2 sends a “retrieve” requestto the block server specifying the content item block hash(es) of themissing content item blocks in the retrieve request. At step 1418, thecontent item synchronization agent 114-2 downloads the missing contentitem block(s) from one or more target block servers. In particular, eachblock server that receives a retrieve request from the content itemsynchronization agent 114-2 may return a response to the retrieverequest containing the content item block(s) corresponding to thecontent item block hash(es) specified in the retrieve request.Downloading a content item block from a block server may proceedaccording to a delta encoding scheme such as, for example, the oneemployed by the known rsync algorithm. In this case, downloading acontent item block from a block server may include downloading only adelta between the content item block as stored at the block server acontent item block already stored at the personal computing device110-2. Accordingly, reference to downloading a content item block from ablock server encompasses both downloading the entire content item blockfrom the block server, or just the delta between a content item blockand another content item block.

At step 1420, the content item synchronization agent 114-2 stores thedownloaded content item block(s) as or as part of one or more contentitem(s) stored in a file system of local storage 112-2. This storing mayinvolve creating new files in the file system and/or updating existingfiles in the file system based on the downloaded content item block(s).For example, for a given content item block downloaded from a blockserver for a content item corresponding to newer server journal entry1112 received in response to the list request, the content itemsynchronization agent 114-2 can determine the file in the file system tocreate or update with the given content item block based on the contentitem mount point folder at the personal computing device 110-2 of thecontent item namespace identified 1114 in the newer entry 1112 and therelative path 1115 in the newer entry 1112.

According to some example embodiments, all content item(s) created orupdated at step 1420 based on one or more newer entries 1112 for a givencontent item namespace are created or updated in sequence and in orderof the journal cursor value(s) 1117 of the newer entries 1112.

At step 1422, the content item synchronization agent 114-2 updates thepersonal computing device's 110-2 current client journal cursor value(s)for successfully created or updated content item(s) in the local storage112-2 based on the content item block(s) successfully downloaded andstored at steps 1418 and 1420. In particular, for a given content itemcreated or updated in the local storage 112-2 based on a correspondingnewer entry 1112 received in response to a list request, the personalcomputing device's 110-2 current client journal cursor value for thecontent item namespace 1114 identified in the corresponding newer entry1112 is updated so that it matches the journal cursor value 1117 of thecorresponding newer entry 1112. As mentioned above, content item(s)created or updated at step 1420 based on one or more newer entries 1112for a given content item namespace may be created or updated in sequenceand in order of the journal cursor value(s) 1117 of the newer entries1112. Similarly, the personal computing device's 110-2 current clientjournal cursor value for a given content item namespace may beincremented at step 1422 in sequence and in order of the journal cursorvalue(s) 1417 of one or more newer entries 1112 for a given content itemnamespace.

4.2.1 Example Download Interaction

Turning now to FIG. 15, it is an interaction diagram 1500 showingvarious interactions between personal computing device 110-2, thenotification server 140, the metadata server 150, a block server 120 or130, and the metadata plane 180 when the process 1400 of FIG. 14 isperformed to download a content item from an on-premises block server(e.g., 120) or an off-premises block server 130, according to someexample embodiments of the present invention.

As in step 1404, the notification server 140 sends a ping message to thecontent item synchronization agent 114-2 at the personal computingdevice 110-2.

As in step 1406, the content item synchronization agent 114-2 determinesthe current client journal cursor value(s) for one or more content itemnamespaces mounted at the personal computing device 110-2. Each suchcurrent client journal cursor value reflects how up to date the personalcomputing device 110-2 is with respect to changes to the content itemnamespace committed to the online content management service. As in step1408, the content item synchronization agent 114-2 sends a list requestto the metadata server 150.

As in step 1410, the metadata server 150 determines any newer journalentries 1112 in the journal 1110 for each current client journal cursorvalue specified in the list request. As in step 1412, the metadataserver 150 determines one or more candidate block server(s) from whichthe content item block(s) of the newer journal entries 1112 can bedownloaded from. As in step 1414, the metadata server 150 sendspertinent information of the list of newer journal entries 1112 to thedevice 110-2.

As in step 1416, the content item synchronization agent 114-2 determinesany content item block(s) specified in the newer journal entries 1112that are not already stored at the device 110-2. This determination maybe based on comparing the content item block lists 1116 of the newerjournal entries 1112 to content block list(s) of known content itemblock hashes for content item blocks that are already stored at thepersonal computing device 110-2. As in step 1418, the content itemsynchronization agent 114-2 downloads any missing content item block(s)from one or more target block servers. In particular, for each newerjournal entry 1112 for which one or more content item blocks are missingat the personal computing device 110-2, the content item synchronizationagent 114-2 attempts to download the missing content item block(s) froma block server at which the missing block(s) are available. As in step1420, the content item synchronization agent 114-2 creates or updatesone or more content items in a local file system of the personalcomputing device 110-2 based on the download content item block(s). Asin step 1422, the content item synchronization agent 114-2 updates thecurrent client journal cursor values when the newer journal entries 1112have been successfully processed.

5.0 Streaming Download Optimization

In the above example synchronization protocol operations, the personalcomputing device 110-2 is notified by the notification server 140 via aping message of a new content item after the new content item has beencompletely uploaded to a target block server. As a result, the personalcomputing device 110-2 does not begin downloading the missing block(s)of the new content item from the target block server until after all ofthe content item block(s) of the new content item have been upload to orare otherwise available at the target block server.

According to some example embodiments, the personal computing device110-2 can begin downloading missing block(s) of the new content itemfrom the target block server before the new content item has beencompletely uploaded to the target block server. To facilitate thisstreaming download optimization, some optimizations to synchronizationprotocol are implemented, which will now be discussed with respect toFIGS. 2 and 7 and the first example synchronization protocol operationand FIGS. 10 and 14 and the second example synchronization protocoloperation.

5.1 First Example Synchronization Protocol

In the modified synchronization protocol, steps 202, 204, 206, 208, 210,212, and 214 may proceed as described above with respect to the firstexample synchronization protocol operation. However, according to astreaming download optimization, the metadata server 150 maintains apre-commit server journal in the metadata plane 180. The metadata server150 may add an entry to the pre-commit server journal after a “failed”commit request from a content item synchronization agent. A “failed”commit request can be one in which there is at least one content itemblock of the new content item missing from the target block server. Inparticular, at step 216 of a modified upload process 200, after themetadata server 150 determines that there are one or more content itemblocks of the new content item missing from the target block server, themetadata server 150 may add a new entry to the pre-commit serverjournal. The new pre-commit server journal entry may include a blockserver identifier, a content item namespace identifier, a relative path,and a content item block list. The new pre-commit server journal entrydoes not need to have a server journal cursor value, but it may. Theblock server identifier of the pre-commit server journal entryidentifies the target block server for the new content item, which canbe an on-premises block server (e.g., 120) or the off-premises blockserver 130. The content item namespace identifier of the new pre-commitserver journal entry identifies the owning content item namespace forthe new content item. The relative path identifies the path to the newcontent item name relative to a mount point of the owning content itemnamespace. The content item block list includes one or more content itemblock hashes corresponding to the one or more content item blocks of thenew content item.

At step 230 of the modified upload process 200, the metadata server 150may remove the pre-commit server journal entry from the pre-commitserver journal after determining that there are no content item block(s)of the new content item missing from the target block server. Accordingto some example embodiments, the pre-commit server journal entry isautomatically removed (i.e., expires) from the pre-commit server journalafter a period of time has elapsed since adding the pre-commit serverjournal entry to the pre-commit server journal. Pre-commit serverjournal entries are set to automatically expire in case the modifiedupload process 200 fails and the second commit request is never made.The presence of a pre-commit server journal entry in the pre-commitserver journal for a new content item serves as a signal that the newcontent item is available for the streaming download optimization. Theremaining steps of the modified upload process 200 may proceed asdescribed above with respect to the first example synchronizationprotocol operation.

According to some example, the pre-commit server journal is maintainedin volatile memory only of the metadata plane 180, as thesynchronization protocol can still operate properly without thestreaming download optimization should entries of the pre-commit serverjournal be erased, evicted or expire from volatile memory. For example,the pre-commit server journal may be maintained in a distributed memorycaching system such as, for example, memcache.

At step 702 of a modified download process 700, a new pre-commit serverjournal entry added to the pre-commit server journal for a new contentitem is detected.

At step 704 of the modified download process 700, in response to thedetection of the new pre-commit server journal entry, the notificationserver 140 sends a ping message to personal computing device 110-2 atwhich the owning content item namespace is mounted.

Steps 706 and 708 of the modified download process 700 may proceed asdescribed above with respect to the first example synchronizationprotocol operation.

At step 710 of the modified download process 700, the metadata server150, when processing the list request, in addition to determining anynewer server journal entries 412 in server journal 410 as describedabove, may also determine any relevant pre-commit server journal entriesin the pre-commit server journal. In particular, for each of the contentitem namespace and block server pairs associated with a current clientjournal cursor value in the list request, the metadata server 150 maydetermine one or more pre-commit server journal entries in thepre-commit server journal having a matching content item namespaceidentifier and block server identifier. Information of each suchpre-commit server journal entry can be returned in the response to thelist request at step 712 of the modified download process 700. Apre-commit server journal entry returned in the list request responsemay be identified as such to distinguish it from newer server journalentries 412 returned in the list request response. For example, apre-commit server journal entry returned in the response may not beassociated with a journal cursor value while a newer server journalentry 412 returned in the response may be associated with the serverjournal cursor value 417 of the newer server journal entry 412.

At step 714 of the modified download process 700, the content itemsynchronization agent 114-2 determines the content item block(s)identified by the content item block list(s) 416 of the newer serverjournal entries 412 that are missing from local storage 112-2 of thepersonal computing device 110-2 as described above with respect to thefirst synchronization protocol operation. In addition, the content itemsynchronization agent 114-2 may maintain in local storage 112-2 apre-fetch cache of content item blocks. The pre-fetch cache may be anarea of the local storage 112-2 (e.g., a particular file system folder)designated to store content item blocks downloaded from block servers atpart of the streaming downloading optimization. In particular, for apre-commit server journal entry received by the content itemsynchronization agent 114-2 at step 712 of the modified download process700, the content item synchronization agent 114-2, as part of step 714of the modified download process 700, may determine any content itemblock(s) of the new content item identified by corresponding contentitem block hash(es) in the pre-commit server journal entry that aremissing at the personal computing device 110-2. At part of step 716 ofthe modified download process 700, the content item synchronizationagent 114-2 may download any such missing content item block(s) from thetarget block server identified in the pre-commit server journal entry tothe personal computing device 110-2 for storage in the pre-fetch cachearea of local storage 112-2.

For a given new content item corresponding to a pre-commit serverjournal entry received at step 712 of the modified download process 700,a content item synchronization agent (e.g., 114-2) at a personalcomputing device (e.g., 110-2) may be downloading a content item blockof the new content item from the target block server at step 716 of themodified download process 700 while another content item synchronizationagent (e.g., 114-1) at another personal computing device (e.g., 110-1)is uploading a different content item block of the new content item tothe target block server at step 220 of the modified upload process 200.For example, assume a new content item is composed of three content itemblocks with content item block hashes ‘A’, ‘B’, and ‘C’. As part of thestreaming download optimization, content item synchronization agent114-2 may begin downloading content item block ‘A’ from a target blockserver before content item synchronization agent 114-1 has begun (orfinished) uploading content item block ‘B’ or begun (or finished)uploading content item block ‘C’ to the target block server.

For content item block(s) downloaded from a target block server for anew content item corresponding to a newer server journal entry 412received at step 712 of the modified download process 700, steps 718 and720 of the modified download process 700 may be performed for that newcontent item as described above with respect to the first examplesynchronization protocol operation.

For content item block(s) downloaded from a target block server for anew content item corresponding a pre-commit server journal entryreceived at step 712 of the modified download process 700, steps 718 and720 of the modified download process 700 may be deferred for that newcontent item until the content item synchronization 114-2 receivesanother ping message as in step 702 of the modified download process 700after the new content item has been committed to the online contentmanagement service. In this case, the content item synchronization agent114-2 will receive at step 712 of the modified download process 700, anewer server journal entry 412 for the now committed content item, inresponse to the list request performed at step 708 of the modifieddownload process 700, after receiving the ping message. Now, at step 714of the modified download process 700, the content item synchronizationagent 114-2 should be able to find any missing content item block(s) forthe new content item in the pre-fetch cache as they have been previouslydownloaded according to the streaming download optimization. Thus, thecontent item synchronization agent 114-2 should not need to download anycontent item blocks for the new content item at step 716 of the modifieddownload process 700. Steps 718 and 720 of the modified download process700 may then be performed for the new content item as described abovewith respect to the first example synchronization protocol operationusing any missing content item block(s) available in the pre-fetch cachewhen storing them as part of the new content item at step 718 of themodified download process 700.

5.2 Second Example Synchronization Protocol

For optimizations to the second example synchronization protocol toimplement the streaming download optimization, the metadata server 150,at step 1016 of a modified upload process 1000, after determining thatno candidate block server has all of the content item block(s) of thenew content item specified in the first commit request, may add a newpre-commit server journal entry to the pre-commit server journal.However, for the second example synchronization protocol, the targetblock server may not be specified by the content item synchronizationagent 114-2 in the first commit request if the content itemsynchronization agent 114-2 has not selected the target block server bythe time the first commit request is sent. If a target block server isspecified in the first commit request, then the new pre-commit serverjournal entry may specify the block server identifier of the targetblock sever. However, if a target block server is not specified by thecontent item synchronization agent 114-2 in the first commit request,then new pre-commit server journal entry may have an empty value or NULLvalue or other value for the block server identifier indicating that thetarget block server has not yet been selected. As an alternative, if atarget block server is not specified in the first commit request, then anew pre-commit server journal entry may not be added by the metadataserver 150 to the pre-commit server journal at step 1016 of the modifiedupload process 1000 and may be added later after a target block serverhas been selected by the content item synchronization agent 114-2.

At step 1020 of the modified upload process 1000, after selecting atarget block server, the content item synchronization 114-2 may send a“pre-commit” request to the metadata server 150 specifying that a targetblock server has been selected. The pre-commit request may contain otherpertinent information such as the content item namespace identifier ofthe owning content item namespace, the relative path for the new contentitem, and the content item block list for the new content item. Inresponse to receiving the pre-commit request, the metadata server 150can update the pre-commit server journal entry added to the pre-commitserver journal in response to the first commit request with the blockserver identifier of the target block server. Alternatively, in responseto receiving the pre-commit request, if a pre-commit server journalentry was not added to the pre-commit server journal in response to thefirst commit request, the metadata server 150 can add a new pre-commitserver journal entry to the pre-commit server journal specifying theblock server identifier of the target block server and the content itemnamespace identifier of the owning content item namespace, the relativepath for the new content item, and the content item block list for thenew content item.

At step 1032 of the modified upload process 1000, the metadata server150 may remove a pre-commit server journal entry for a new content itemfrom the pre-commit server journal after determining that there are nocontent item block(s) of the new content item missing from the targetblock server. Alternatively, if an identifier of the target block serveris not specified in the second commit request, then the metadata server150 may remove the pre-commit server journal entry after determiningthat at least one candidate block server stores all content itemblock(s) of the new content item. According to some example embodiments,a pre-commit server journal entry is automatically removed (i.e.,expires) from the pre-commit server journal after a period of time haselapsed since adding the pre-commit server journal entry to thepre-commit server journal. This is done in case the modified uploadprocess 1000 fails and the second commit request is never made. Thepresence of a pre-commit server journal entry in the pre-commit serverjournal for a new content item with a valid block server identifieridentifying a target block server serves as a signal that the newcontent item is available for the streaming download optimization fromthat target block server. The remaining steps of the modified uploadprocess 1000 may proceed as described above with respect to the secondexample synchronization protocol operation.

At step 1402 of a modified download process 1400, a pre-commit serverjournal entry in the pre-commit server journal with a valid block serveridentifier identifying a target block server is detected. The detectionmay be made in response to the pre-commit server journal entry beingadded to pre-commit server journal with the valid block serveridentifier or in response to the pre-commit server journal entry beingmodified in the pre-commit server journal to specify a valid blockserver identifier.

At step 1404 of the modified download process 1400, in response to thedetection of the new pre-commit server journal entry, the notificationserver 140 sends a ping message to personal computing device 110-2 atwhich the owning content item namespace is mounted.

Steps 1406 and 1408 of the modified download process 1400 may proceed asdescribed above with respect to the second example synchronizationprotocol operation.

At step 1410 of the modified download process 1400, the metadata server150, when processing the list request, in addition to determining anynewer server journal entries 1112 in server journal 1110 as describedabove, may also determine any relevant pre-commit server journal entriesin the pre-commit server journal. In particular, for each of the contentitems associated with a current client journal cursor value in the listrequest, the metadata server 150 may determine one or more pre-commitserver journal entries in the pre-commit server journal having amatching content item namespace identifier. Information of each suchpre-commit server journal entry can be returned in the response to thelist request at step 1414 of the modified download process 1400. Apre-commit server journal entry returned in the list request responsemay be identified as such to distinguish it from newer server journalentries 1112 returned in the list request response. For example, apre-commit server journal entry returned in the response may not beassociated with a journal cursor value while a newer server journalentry 1112 returned in the response may be associated with the serverjournal cursor value 1117 of the newer server journal entry 1112.

At step 1416 of the modified download process 1400, the content itemsynchronization agent 114-2 determines the content item block(s)identified by the content item block list(s) 1116 of the newer serverjournal entries 1112 that are missing from local storage 112-2 of thepersonal computing device 110-2 as described above with respect to thesecond synchronization protocol operation. In addition, for a pre-commitserver journal entry received by the content item synchronization agent114-2 at step 1414 of the modified download process 1400, the contentitem synchronization agent 114-2, as part of step 1416 of the modifieddownload process 1400, may determine any content item block(s) of thenew content item identified by corresponding content item block hash(es)in the pre-commit server journal entry that are missing at the personalcomputing device 110-2.

At part of step 1418 of the modified download process 1400, the contentitem synchronization agent 114-2 may download any such missing contentitem block(s) from the target block server identified in the pre-commitserver journal entry to the personal computing device 110-2 for storagein the pre-fetch cache area of local storage 112-2.

For a given new content item corresponding to a pre-commit serverjournal entry received at step 1414 of the modified download process1400, a content item synchronization agent (e.g., 114-2) at a personalcomputing device (e.g., 110-2) may be downloading a content item blockof the new content item from the target block server at step 1418 of themodified download process 1400 while another content itemsynchronization agent (e.g., 114-1) at another personal computing device(e.g., 110-1) is uploading a different content item block of the newcontent item to the target block server at step 1022 of the modifiedupload process 1000. For example, assume a new content item is composedof three content item blocks with content item block hashes ‘A’, ‘B’,and ‘C’. As part of the streaming download optimization, content itemsynchronization agent 114-2 may begin downloading content item block ‘A’from a target block server before content item synchronization agent114-1 has begun (or finished) uploading content item block ‘B’ or begun(or finished) uploading content item block ‘C’ to the target blockserver.

For content item block(s) downloaded from a target block server for anew content item corresponding to a newer server journal entry 1112received at step 1414 of the modified download process 1400, steps 1420and 1422 of the modified download process 1400 may be performed for thatnew content item as described above with respect to the first examplesynchronization protocol operation.

For content item block(s) downloaded from a target block server for anew content item corresponding to a pre-commit server journal entryreceived at step 1414 of the modified download process 1400, steps 1420and 1422 of the modified download process 1400 may be deferred for thatnew content item until the content item synchronization 114-2 receivesanother ping message as in step 1402 of the modified download process1400, after the new content item has been committed to the onlinecontent management service. In this case, the content itemsynchronization agent 114-2 will receive, at step 1414 of the modifieddownload process 1400, a newer server journal entry 1412 for the nowcommitted content item, in response to the list request performed atstep 1408 of the modified download process 1400, after receiving theping message. Now, at step 1416 of the modified download process 1400,the content item synchronization agent 114-2 should be able to find anymissing content item block(s) for the new content item in the pre-fetchcache as they have been previously downloaded according to the streamingdownload optimization. Thus, the content item synchronization agent114-2 should not need to download any content item blocks for the newcontent item at step 1418 of the modified download process 1400. Steps1420 and 1422 of the modified download process 1400 may then beperformed for the new content item as described above with respect tothe second example synchronization protocol operation using any missingcontent item block(s) available in the pre-fetch cache when storing themas part of the new content item at step 1420 of the modified downloadprocess 1400.

6.0 Peer-to-Peer Optimization

In accordance with some example embodiments of the present invention,the synchronization protocol is modified to support peer-to-peeroperations. In particular, at step 716 of download process 700 or atstep 1418 of download process 1400, a content item synchronization agentat a personal computing device can download some or all of the missingcontent item block(s) from one or more “peer” personal computingdevices, in addition to or instead of downloading some of the missingcontent item block(s) from one or more block servers. The peer-to-peeroptimization to the synchronization protocol described herein can beused independently or in conjunction with the streaming downloadoptimization described herein. Accordingly, any references in thissection to modified upload process 200, modified download process 700,modified upload process 1000, and modified download process 1400 referto the respective process with the peer-to-peer optimization asdescribed herein and which may or may not also include the streamingdownload optimization.

Although not required, the peer-to-peer optimization may be especiallyuseful in implementations where local storage space at an on-premisesblock server (e.g., 120) for storing content item blocks is limited orwhere the network connecting peer personal computing devices is higherbandwidth and/or lower latency than the network connecting those peerdevices to an on-premises block server or the off-premises block sever130.

According to some example embodiments of the present invention, thepeer-to-peer optimization involves a discovery process and apeer-to-peer download process. The discovery process is performed by acontent item synchronization agent at a personal computing device todiscover other content item synchronization agents at other personalcomputing devices that are available to serve content item blocks to thediscovering content item synchronization agent. Once a discoveringcontent item synchronization agent has discovered another content itemsynchronization agent that is available to serve content item blocks tothe discovering content item synchronization agent, then the discoveringcontent item synchronization agent may download missing content itemblock(s) from the discovered content item synchronization agent inaccordance with a peer-to-peer download process, which may be performedas part of a modified download process 700 or the modified downloadprocess 1400.

6.1 Discovery Process

Turning now to FIG. 16, it is a flow diagram of a process 1600 fordiscovering peer personal computing devices, according to some exampleembodiments of the present invention. According to some exampleembodiments, the process 1600 is performed by content itemsynchronization agents at personal computing devices. While steps aredescribed below and depicted in FIG. 16 in a certain order, noparticular order for the steps is required, unless explicitly stated orimplied otherwise. Further, there is no requirement that all steps beperformed separately in time, and some steps may be performedconcurrently with each other or overlap each other in time. Furtherstill, some steps may be omitted entirely and additional steps includedaccording to the requirements of the particular implementation at hand.

The process 1600 will be explained by an example in which a“discovering” content item synchronization agent discovers an“advertising” content item synchronization agent. In the example,content item synchronization agent 114-1 at personal computing device110-1 is considered the advertising content item synchronization agentand content item synchronization agent 114-2 at personal computingdevice 110-2 is considered the discovering content item synchronizationagent. However, content item synchronization agent 114-2 can just aseasily be considered the advertising content item synchronization agentand content item synchronization agent 114-1 considered to be thediscovering content item synchronization agent. Further, a content itemsynchronization agent can be both an advertising and a discoveringcontent item synchronization agent.

At step 1602, the discovering content item synchronization agent 114-2listens for “peer download advertisements” on a networking port. In thiscontext, a peer download advertisement by one content itemsynchronization agent serves to notify one or more other content itemsynchronization agents that receive the peer download advertisement thatthe advertising content item synchronization agent is available forpeer-to-peer serving of content item blocks in accordance with theparameters of the peer download advertisement. A peer downloadadvertisement may be made in accordance with a connection-orientednetworking protocol (e.g., TCP) or a connectionless networking protocol(e.g., UDP). According to some example embodiments, the designatednetworking protocol is LANA port 17500 and peer download advertisementsare made in accordance with a connectionless networking protocol (e.g.,UDP).

At step 1604, the advertising content item synchronization agent 114-1formulates a peer download advertisement. Formulation of the peerdownload advertisement may involve forming one or more networking datapackets (e.g., forming a UDP packet) containing certain information.

6.2 Peer Download Advertisement

Turning briefly to FIG. 17, it is a block diagram of a possible peerdownload advertisement 1700, according to some example embodiments ofthe present invention. Among other information, a peer downloadadvertisement 1700 may contain a protocol version 1702, one or moreadvertised content item namespaces 1704(1)-(N), a port number 1706, anda random identifier 1708. The protocol version 1702 identifies theversion of the peer-to-peer synchronization protocol supported by theadvertising content item synchronization agent 114-1.

Each advertised content item namespace (e.g., 1704-2) identifies acontent item namespace mounted at the personal computing device 110-1for which the content item synchronization agent 114-1 is available toserve content item blocks. At a minimum, each advertised content itemnamespace 1704 identifies 1714 the mounted content item namespace thatit is advertising. An advertised content item namespace 1704 may alsoinclude the current client journal cursor value 1717 associated with themounted content item namespace at the personal computing device 110-1.And if the current client journal cursor value 1717 is block serverspecific as in the first example synchronization protocol operation,then the advertised content item namespace 1704 may also include theblock server identifier 1713 of the block server associated with thecurrent client journal cursor value 1717 at the personal computingdevice 110-1. The current client journal cursor value 1717 received inan advertised content item namespace 1704 may be used by the discoveringcontent item synchronization agent 114-2 as part of the peer-to-peersynchronization protocol as described below.

The network port number 1706 advertises the number of the network porton which the peer-to-peer synchronization protocol service is availableat the personal computing device 110-1. The network port number 1706 maybe used to advertise a port number that is different than a default portnumber (e.g., 17500) that is currently being used by another networkservice.

A device identifier 1708 may be used to identify the advertisingpersonal computing device 110-1 that formulated the peer downloadadvertisement and, more particularly, for the advertising content itemsynchronization agent 114-1 at the advertising personal computing device110-1 to distinguish its own peer download advertisements from peerdownload advertisements sent by other personal computing devices amongall of the peer download advertisements received at the personalcomputing device 110-1. For example, the device identifier 1708 may be aprobabilistically unique sequence of characters generated by theadvertising content item synchronization agent 114-1.

At step 1606, the advertising content item synchronization agent 114-1sends the peer download advertisement 1700 formulated at step 1604 tothe discovering content item synchronization agent 114-2. The peerdownload advertisement 1700 may be sent in one or more unicast,multicast, or broadcast network packets. In the case of multicast andbroadcast, one or more other content item synchronization agents mayalso receive the peer download advertisement 1700, in addition to thediscovering content item synchronization agent 114-2.

At step 1608, the discovering content item synchronization agent 114-2receives the peer download advertisement 1700 sent by the advertisingcontent item synchronization agent 114-1 at step 1606.

At step 1610, the discovering content item synchronization agent 114-2updates a locally stored (e.g., in local storage 112-2 and/or in mainmemory 2806 of the personal computing device 110-2) “peer devices” tablebased on the received peer download advertisement 1700. The peer devicestable may store a “peer device list” for each content item namespacemounted at the personal computing device 110-2. Each peer device list inthe peer devices table may be keyed by the identifier of the contentitem namespace to which the peer device list corresponds.

6.3 Peer Devices Table

For example, FIG. 18 is a block diagram of a peer devices table 1800according to some example embodiments of the present invention. The peerdevices table 1800 includes one or more peer device lists 1802(1)-(N).There may be a peer device list 1802 in the peer devices table 1800 foreach content item namespace mounted at the personal computing device110-2. Each peer device list 1802 may be keyed in the peer devices table1800 by a corresponding identifier 1804 of the mounted content itemnamespace to which the peer device list 1802 corresponds.

A peer device list 1802 may contain one or more peer device entries1806(1)-(N). Each peer device entry 1806 of a peer device list 1802represents a personal computing device at which the content itemnamespace corresponding to the peer device list 1802 is mounted. Thepeer devices entries 1806(1)-(N) in a peer device list 1802, if there ismore than one peer device entry 1802 in the peer device list 1802, maybe ordered within the peer device list 1802 according to priority. Thepriorities of peer device entries 1806 of a peer device list 1802 may bebased on various criteria. In one implementation, the peer deviceentries 1806 of a peer device list 1802 are prioritized based on howrecently a peer download advertisement was received from the personalcomputing devices represented by the peer device entries 1806 of thepeer device list 1802. In particular, for the personal computing devicesrepresented by the peer device entries 1806 of a peer device list 1802,the peer device entry 1806 representing the personal computing devicefrom which a peer download advertisement was most recently received bythe personal computing device 110-2 may be prioritized first, followedby the peer device entry 1806 representing the personal computing devicefrom which the next most recently received peer download advertisementwas received, and so on, with the lowest priority peer device entry 1806representing the personal computing device from which the least recentlyreceived peer download advertisement was received. In anotherimplementation, peer device entries 1806 of a peer device list 1802 areprioritized in order of their respective client journal cursor values1817, with the peer device entry 1806 with the highest client journalcursor value 1817 is associated with the highest priority and the peerdevice entry 1806 with the lowest client journal cursor value 1817 isassociated with the lowest priority. Prioritizing the peer deviceentries 1806 may be useful when the content item synchronization agent114-2 selects one of the personal computing devices to attempt todownload missing content item block(s) from, as described in greaterdetail below with respect to a peer-to-peer download process.

As shown in FIG. 18, each peer device entry 1806 of a peer device list1802 may include a network address 1811 and optionally a block serveridentifier 1813 and a client journal cursor value 1817. The networkaddress 1811 is for the personal computing device represented by thepeer device entry 1806. The network address 1811 may be a hostname or anInternet Protocol (IP) address. The network address 1811 may bedetermined from the latest peer download advertisement received from thepersonal computing device represented by the peer device entry 1806, forexample, from the peer network address of the personal computing deviceor from information contained in the peer download advertisement. A peerdevice entry 1806 may include a client journal cursor value 1817 and ablock server identifier 1813 if the client journal cursor value 1817 isblock server and content item namespace specific. If the client journalcursor value 1817 is not block server specific, then a peer device entry1806 may omit a block server identifier 183. If present, the clientjournal cursor value 1817 represents how up-to-date the personalcomputing device represented by the peer device entry 1806 is withrespect to changes to the content item namespace corresponding to thepeer device list 1802 that have been committed to the online contentmanagement service. And if the client journal cursor value 1817 is blockserver specific, then the client journal cursor value 1817 representshow up-to-date the personal computing device represented by the peerdevice entry 1806 is with respect to changes to the content itemnamespace corresponding to the peer device list 1802 that have beenuploaded to the block server identified by the block server identifier1813 and committed to the online content management service. The clientjournal cursor value 1817 of a peer device entry 1806 may be used inaccordance with a peer-to-peer download process as described in greaterdetail below during a modified download process 700 or a modifieddownload process 1000 to determine whether an attempt should be made todownload missing content item block(s) from the personal computingdevice represented by the peer device entry 1806.

As mentioned, at step 1610 of the discovery process 1600, thediscovering content item synchronization agent 114-2 updates a locallystored peer devices table 1800 based on the received peer downloadadvertisement 1700. In particular, for each advertised namespace 1704 ofthe peer download advertisement 1700, the content item synchronizationagent 114-2 updates the corresponding peer device list 1802 in the peerdevices table 1800 stored at the personal computing device 110-2. Suchupdating may include adding a new peer device list 1802 to the peerdevices table 1800 or modifying an existing peer device list 1802 of thepeer devices table 1800. A new peer device list 1802 may be added ifthere is currently no peer device list 1802 in the peer devices table1800 for the content item namespace 1714 of the advertised namespace1704. The added peer device list 1802 may be keyed 1804 by the contentitem namespace identifier 1714 of the advertised namespace 1704. Theadded peer device list 1802 may also contain a peer device entry 1806having a network address 1811 for the advertising personal computingdevice 110-1. The peer device entry 1806 may also have, as the blockserver identifier 1813, the block server identifier 1713 of theadvertised namespace 1704 and, as the client journal cursor value 1817,the client journal cursor value 1713 of the advertised namespace 1704.If there is an existing peer device list 1802 keyed 1804 by the contentitem namespace identifier 1704 of the advertised namespace 1704, then asimilar peer device entry 1806 may be added to the existing peer devicelist 1802. If there is an existing peer device entry 1806 in theexisting peer device list 1802 with the same network address 1811, thenthe existing peer device entry 1806 may be removed before adding the newpeer device entry 1806 for the network address 1811. Alternatively, theexisting peer device entry 1806 may be updated (e.g., the client journalcursor value 1817 updated) based on the advertised namespace 1704 asdescribed above in the case of adding a peer device list 1802 with asingle peer device entry 1806 for the advertised namespace 1704.

Process 1600 may be repeated over time. In particular, steps 1604, 1606,1608, and 16010 may be repeated periodically so that the discoveringcontent item synchronization agent 114-2 may keep its peer devices table1800 up-to-date with respect to changes at advertising personalcomputing device 114-1 (and other peer computing devices) that arerelevant to the peer-to-peer synchronization protocol. Relevant changesmay include (a) when a content item namespace is mounted at theadvertising personal computing device 114-1, (b) when a content itemnamespace is unmounted at the advertising personal computing device114-1, and (c) when the current client journal cursor value for acontent item namespace (or a content item namespace and a block server)is updated at the advertising personal computing device 114-1. Wheneverany of these changes occur at the advertising personal computing device110-1, the advertising content item synchronization agent 114-1 may senda peer download advertisement 1700 to discovering content itemsynchronization agent 114-2 (and other content item synchronizationagent) reflecting the change. The advertising content itemsynchronization agent 114-1 may also, or as an alternative, send a newpeer download advertisement 1700 periodically on a regular time intervalsuch as, for example, every ten to twenty seconds. Each time a peerdownload advertisement 1700 is received, the discovering content itemsynchronization agent 114-2 may update its local peer devices table 1800based on the received advertisement 1700.

6.4 Peer-to-Peer Download Process

Turning now to FIG. 19, it is a flow diagram of a peer-to-peer downloadprocess 1900, according to some example embodiments of the presentinvention. Some steps of the process 1900 may be performed by a personalcomputing device (e.g., 110-2) as a sub-process of the download process700 of the first example synchronization protocol operation, thedownload process 1400 of the second example synchronization protocoloperation, or either of those processes as modified with the streamingdownload optimization. In particular, after the downloading personalcomputing device has determined one or more missing content item blocksat step 716 or step 1416, the downloading personal computing device maydownload some or all of the missing content item blocks from one or morepeer personal computing devices, instead of downloading those missingcontent item blocks from one or more block servers.

As discussed above, at step 712 of download process 700, a personalcomputing device may receive one or more newer server journal entries412 representing one or more content items to be created or updated atthe personal computing device. Similarly, at step 1414 of downloadprocess 1400, a personal computing device may receive one or more newerserver journal entries 1112 representing one or more content items to becreated or updated at the personal computing device. If download process700 or download process 1400 is modified with the streaming downloadoptimization, then the personal computing device may also receive one ormore pre-commit server journal entries at step 712 or step 1414,respectively. In all cases, each entry, whether a newer server journalentry 412, a newer server journal entry 1112, or a pre-commit serverjournal entry, corresponds to a new content item to be created orupdated at the personal computing device and that (a) belongs to acontent item namespace identified in the entry, (b) is composed of oneor more content item blocks identified in the entry, one or more ofwhich may be missing at the personal computing device, and (c) isassociated with a server journal cursor value specified in entry. Theserver journal cursor value can be specific to the owning content itemnamespace or the combination of the owning content item namespace and aparticular block server.

In the following description of the peer-to-peer download process 1900,reference is made to a “newer entry”. Depending on whether thepeer-to-peer download process 1900 is being performed in conjunctionwith download process 900 or download process 1400, and with or withoutthe streaming download optimization, the newer entry may correspond to anewer server journal entry 412, a newer server journal entry 1112, or apre-commit server journal entry.

At step 1902, content item synchronization agent 114-2 of personalcomputing device 110-2 establishes one or more network connections withone or more content item synchronization agents at one or more peerpersonal computing devices. Each such network connection may beestablished according to the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and mayalso be established in accordance with a cryptographic security protocolsuch as TLS or SSL. A network connection established between the contentitem synchronization 114-2 of personal computing device 110-2 and acontent item synchronization agent of a peer personal computing devicemay be part of a network connection pool at the personal computingdevice 110-2 such that the network connection is reused over multiplepeer-to-peer operations to avoid the overhead of establishing thenetwork connection each time the network connection is needed forpeer-to-peer operations.

According to some example embodiments, the content item synchronizationagent 114-2 establishes a network connection with enough peer personalcomputing devices such that each content item namespace identified by akey 1804 in the peer devices table 1800 at the personal computing device110-2 is served by at least one peer personal computing device. Forexample, the content item synchronization agent 114-2 may iterate overthe keys 1804 in the peer devices table 180. For each key 1804, thecontent item synchronization agent 114-2 may attempt to establish anetwork connection with a content item synchronization agent at thenetwork address 1811 of the highest priority peer device entry 1806 inthe peer device list 1802 associated with that key 1804, if a networkconnection has not already been established with that content itemsynchronization agent. If the attempt is unsuccessful, then an attemptto establish a network connection with a content item synchronizationagent at the network address 1811 of the next highest priority peerdevice entry 1806 in the peer device list 1802 may be made, and so onuntil a network connection is successfully established or there are nomore peer device entries 1806 in the peer device list 1802.

The content item synchronization agent 114-2 may repeat step 1902 fromtime to time such as on a regular interval or on a periodic basis orafter an event such as after an update to the peer devices table 1800.

At step 1904, the content item synchronization agent 114-2 obtains anewer entry corresponding to a new content item for which one or morecontent item blocks are missing at the personal computing device 110-2.As discussed above, depending on whether the content itemsynchronization agent 114-2 is performing step 1904 in conjunction withdownload process 900 or download process 1400, and with or without thestreaming download optimization, the newer entry may correspond to anewer server journal entry 412, a newer server journal entry 1112, or apre-commit server journal entry sent to the content item synchronizationagent 114-2 by the metadata server 150 in response to a list requestfrom the content item synchronization agent 114-2.

At step 1906, the content item synchronization agent 114-2 determines aset of one or more “candidate” peer personal computing devices that thecontent item synchronization agent 114-2 will attempt to download themissing content item block(s) of the new content item from. Thisdetermination may be based on information in the peer devices table1800. In particular, using the content item namespace identifier of thenewer entry as a key 1804 into the peer devices table 1800, the contentitem synchronization agent 114-2 obtains a reference to the peer deviceslist 1802 associated with the key 1804 in the peer devices table 1800.The content item synchronization agent 114-2 then determines, for eachof one or more of the peer device entries 1806 of the peer device list1802 associated with the content item namespace identifier of the newerentry, whether an attempt should be made to download the missing contentitem block(s) of the new content item from the peer personal computingdevice represented by the peer device entry 1806. If the content itemsynchronization agent 114-2 determines that an attempt should be made todownload the missing content item block(s) from a given peer personalcomputing device, then the corresponding peer device entry 1806 isconsidered to be a “candidate” peer device entry 1806. Otherwise, thecorresponding peer device entry 1806 is not considered a “candidate”peer device entry 1806.

According to some example embodiments, all of the peer device entries1806 of the peer device list 1802 associated with the content itemnamespace identifier of the newer entry are considered to be candidatepeer device entries 1806. In other example embodiments, less than all ofthe peer device entries 1806 of the peer device list 1802 are consideredto be candidate peer device entries 1806. That is, a determination ismade not to attempt to download the missing content item block(s) fromthe peer computing device(s) represented by one or more of the peerdevice entries 1806. In other words, the peer device entry 1806 ispruned from candidacy. Pruning a peer device entry 1806 may be based ona number of different criteria.

According to one criterion, a peer device entry 1806 is pruned fromcandidacy based on the server journal cursor value of the newer entryand the client journal cursor value 1817 of the peer device entry 1806.In particular, the peer device entry 1806 may be pruned if the clientjournal cursor value 1817 of the peer device entry 1806 is less than theserver journal cursor value of the newer entry. In this case, accordingto client journal cursor value 1817 of the peer device entry 1806, thepeer computing device represented by the peer device entry 1806 probablydoes not store the missing content item block(s) of the newer entry.

According to another criterion, a peer device entry 1806 is pruned fromcandidacy based on a mismatch between the block server identifier 1813of the peer device entry 1806, if present, and the block serveridentifier of the newer entry. If there is a mismatch between these twoidentifies, this indicates a higher probability than if there is a matchthat the peer computing device represented by the peer device entry 1806does not store the missing content item block(s) of the newer entry.

According to another criterion, a peer device entry 1806 is pruned fromcandidacy if a threshold number (e.g., three) of candidate peer deviceentries 1806 have already been determined.

According to another criterion, a peer device entry 1806 is pruned fromcandidacy if a network connection has not already been establishedbetween the content item synchronization agent 114-2 and a content itemsynchronization agent at the network address 1811 of the peer deviceentry 1806.

At step 1908, the content item synchronization agent 114-2 determines ifthere are more missing content item block(s) of the new content item toattempt to download from a peer computing device. If there are, then theprocess 1900 continues to step 1910. If not, then, at step 1910, theprocess 1900 returns to step 1904 to obtain the next newer entry, ifthere are more newer entries in the response to the list request toprocess according to the peer-to-peer download process 1900. If thereare no more newer entries to process, then the process 1900 ends. Anynewer entries in the response to the list request that are not processedby the peer-to-peer download process 1900 may be processed in accordancewith the download process 700 or the download process 1400, and aspossibly modified by the streaming download optimization, as describedabove.

At step 1912, the content item synchronization agent 114-2 sends a “haveblock” request to each of the candidate peer computing devices. The haveblock request may specify the content item block hash of a missingcontent item block as a parameter of the request. In conjunction with orafter sending the request(s), the content item synchronization agent114-2 may initiate a timer with a timeout value. The timeout value maybe in the range of one to ten seconds, for example.

At step 1914, the content item synchronization agent 114-2 determines ifthe timer has expired before at least one of the candidate peercomputing device(s) has responded to the have block request with aresponse that indicates that the missing content item block is availablefor download from the candidate peer computing device. If the timer hasexpired, then the process 1900 ends. For any missing content itemblock(s) of the new content item that the content item synchronizationagent 114-2 is unsuccessful in downloading from a peer computing device,the content item synchronization agent 114-2 may attempt to download themissing content item block(s) from one or more block servers inaccordance with the download process 700 or the download process 1400,and as possibly modified by the streaming download optimization, asdescribed above.

If the timer has not yet expired, then at step 1916, the content itemsynchronization agent 114-2 determines if at least one of the candidatepeer computing device(s) has responded to the have block request with aresponse that indicates that the missing content item block is availablefor download from the candidate peer computing device. If so, then theprocess 1900 proceeds to step 1918. Otherwise, the process 1900 returnsto step 1912.

At step 1918, the content item synchronization agent 114-2 downloads themissing content item block from the candidate peer computing device bysending a retrieve request to the candidate peer computing devicespecifying the content item block hash of the missing content itemblock. The response to the retrieve request includes the requestedcontent item block, if the content item block is stored at the candidatepeer computing device, for example, in the pre-fetch cache, as part of acontent item, or otherwise stored in local storage of the candidate peercomputing device.

After downloading the missing content item block at step 1918, theprocess 1900 returns to step 1908 to download any other missing contentitem block(s) of the new content item. As mentioned previously, thecontent item synchronization agent 114-2 may attempt, as a fallback, todownload any missing content item block(s) of the new content item fromone or more block servers, in accordance with the download process 700or the download process 1400, and as possibly modified by the streamingdownload optimization, as described above, that the content itemsynchronization agent 114-2 was unsuccessful in downloading from a peercomputing device according to the peer-to-peer download process 1900.

7.0 Content Item Block Replication

According to various example embodiments of the present invention, acontent item namespace can be assigned to more than one block server.For example, a content item namespace may be assigned to one or moreon-premises block servers and the off-premises block server or two ormore on-premises block servers. When a new content item belonging tosuch a content item namespace is committed to the online contentmanagement service, the new content item block(s) of the new contentitem are uploaded to one or more of the block servers to which thecontent item namespace is assigned. However, a content itemsynchronization agent at a personal computing device may select todownload missing content item block(s) of the new content item from anassigned block server that is different from one the new content itemblock(s) were uploaded to. For example, the content item synchronizationagent may select an assigned block server that is closer on the networkthan a block server to which the missing content item block(s) wereuploaded to.

According to some example embodiments of the present invention, toincrease the availability of content item blocks at block servers towhich a content item namespace is assigned, the block agents (e.g., 126)of on-premises block servers (e.g., 120), in co-operation with theonline content management service, implement a content item blockreplication protocol. According to the content item block replicationprotocol, when new content item blocks of a new content item areuploaded to an on-premises block server, the on-premises block servercan replicate the new content item blocks to other block servers thatare assigned to the content item namespace to which the new content itembelongs. Also according to the content item block replication protocol,when new content item blocks of a new content item are uploaded to theoff-premises block server, the off-premises block server can replicatethe new content item blocks to any on-premises block servers that arealso assigned to the content item namespace to which the new contentitem belongs. In this way, new content item blocks of a new content itemthat are uploaded to a block server are made available at all blockservers assigned to the content item namespace to which the new contentitem belongs.

For example, referring now to FIG. 20, assume a certain content itemnamespace ‘ABC123’ is assigned to on-premises block server 120-1, onpremises block server 120-2, and off-premises block server 130.On-premises block server 120-1 and on-premises block server 120-2 may beconnected to the same local area network or different local areanetworks. In the example of FIG. 20, on premises block server 120-1 andon-premises block server 120-2 are connected to different local areanetworks, in particular, LAN 160-1 and LAN 160-2, respectively.On-premises block servers 120-1 and 120-2 and associated LANS 160-1 and160-2 may be geographically distributed and do not necessarily reside inthe same geographic area. For example, on-premises block server 120-1and LAN 160-1 can be located in a company's San Francisco headquarterswhile on-premises block server 120-2 and LAN 160-2 can be located in thecompany's New York offices. Alternatively, on-premises block servers120-1 and 120-2 and LANS 160-1 and 160-2 may be owned and operated bydifferent businesses or organizations. For example, the content itemnamespace ‘ABC123’ may represent a shared folder that Company Alpha andCompany Beta use for collaboration. Whether on-premises block servers120-1 and 120-2 and LANS 160-1 and 160-2 are owned and operated by thesame or different companies, with the content item block replicationprotocol, new content item blocks for a new content item in content itemnamespace ‘ABC123’ uploaded to on-premises block server 120-1 bypersonal computing device 110-1 are automatically made available fordownload by personal computing device 110-2 from on-premises blockserver 120-2 and off-premises block server 130. Similarly, new contentitem blocks for a new content item in content item namespace ‘ABC123’uploaded to on-premises block server 120-2 by personal computing 110-2are automatically made available for download by personal computingdevice 110-1 from on-premises block server 120-1 and off-premises blockserver 130. Additionally, new content item blocks for a new content itemin content item namespace ‘ABC123’ uploaded to the off-premises blockserver 130 by either personal computing device 110-1 or personalcomputing device 110-2 are automatically made available for downloadfrom on-premises block server 120-1 and on-premises block server 120-2.

At a high-level, operation of the content item block replicationprotocol proceeds as follows. The block agent at each on-premises blockserver maintains a current client cursor value for each content itemnamespace assigned to the on-premises block server. The current clientcursor value for a content namespace represents which server journalentries for the content item namespace the on-premises block serveralready knows about. The current client cursor value for a content itemnamespace is used by the block agent at an on-premises block server todetermine which content item blocks of content items in the content itemnamespace stored at the on-premises block server should be offered toother block servers and which content item blocks of content items inthe content item namespace stored at the off-premises block servershould be downloaded to the on-premises block server.

The block agent at each on-premises block server may maintain along-polling connection to the notification server (e.g., 140) of theonline content management service. When a new content item in a contentitem namespace assigned to an on-premises block server is committed tothe online content management service, a ping message may be sent to theon-premises block server over the long-polling connection, if the newcontent item blocks of the new content item were uploaded to theon-premises block server or the off-premises block server. For example,on-premises block server 120-1 may receive a ping message from thenotification server 140 if new content item blocks of a new content itembelonging to content item namespace ‘ABC123’ were uploaded toon-premises block server 120-1 or the off-premises block server 130.

In response to receiving a ping message from the notification server, anon-premises block server may make a “block server list” request of themetadata server (e.g., 150) of the online content management service.The block server list request may specify the current client cursorvalue for each content item namespace assigned to the on-premises blockserver. The block server list request may include other information suchas a block server identifier of the on-premises block server sending theblock server list request.

In response to receiving a block server list request from an on-premisesblock server, the metadata server may determine one or more newer serverjournal entries to send to the on-premises block server in a response tothe block server list request. Each newer server journal entrycorresponds to one of the content item namespaces assigned to theon-premises block server and specified in the block server list request.Each newer server journal entry for a content item namespace has aserver journal cursor value that is greater than the current clientcursor value specified by the on-premises block server for the contentitem namespace in the block server list request. Each newer serverjournal entry for a content item namespace corresponds to either a)content item blocks uploaded to the on-premises block server that theon-premises block server can offer to other block servers assigned tothe content item namespace or b) content item blocks uploaded to theoff-premises block server that the on-premises block server can downloadfrom the off-premises block server. The former type a) of newer serverjournal entry is referred to hereinafter as an “offer” newer serverjournal entry. The later type b) of newer server journal entry isreferred to hereinafter as a “download” newer server journal entry.Processing of offer newer server journal entries and download newerserver journal entries by an on-premises block server is described ingreater detail below.

7.1 Replication Metadata

Turning now to FIG. 21, it is a block diagram of a content item blockreplication metadata 2100 that may be maintained by a block agent at anon-premises block server. The metadata 2100 may contain one or moreassigned content item namespace entries 2102-1, 2102-2, . . . , 2102-N.Each entry 2102 represents a content item namespace assigned to theon-premises block server.

An entry 2102 may include an identifier 2114 of the content itemnamespace assigned to the on-premises block server. The entry 2102 mayalso include a current client cursor value 2117 for the content itemnamespace assigned to the on-premises block server. The current clientcursor value 2117 represents the changes to content items in the contentitem namespace committed to the online content management service thatthe on-premises block server already knows about for content item blockreplication purposes. The entry 2102 may also include one or moreassigned block server identifiers 2113-1, 2113-2, . . . , 2113-N. Anassigned block server identifier 2113 identifies a block server assignedto the content item namespace.

The block agent at an on-premises block server may use maintainedmetadata 2100 as part of the content item block replication protocol asdescribed in greater detail below.

7.2 Server Journal

Turning now to FIG. 22, it is a block diagram of a content item serverjournal 2210 that may be maintained in the metadata plane of the onlinecontent management service by the metadata server. The server journal2210 contains one or more server journal entries 2212-1, 2212-2, . . . ,2212-N. Each server journal entry 2212 represents a new content itemcommitted to the online content management service. For example, aserver journal entry 2212 may be added to the content item serverjournal 2210 by the metadata server 150 in response to receiving asecond commit request as described above with respect to uploadprocesses 200 and 1000.

A server journal entry 2212 may contain an identifier 2214 of a contentitem namespace to which the new content item represented by the serverjournal entry 2212 belongs. The server journal entry 2212 may alsocontain an identifier 2213 of the target block server the new contentitem blocks of the new content item were uploaded to. The target blockserver identifier 2213 may be specified in the second commit requestfrom the content item synchronization agent as part of step 226 ofupload process 200 or step 1028 of upload process 1000, for example. Theserver journal entry 2212 may also contain a relative path 2215 for thenew content item. The server journal entry 2212 may also contain acontent item block list for the new content item identifying the contentitem block(s) that make up the new content item. The server journalentry 2212 may also contain a server journal cursor value 2217. Theserver journal cursor value 2217 can be specific to the content itemnamespace identified 2214 in the entry 2212. Alternatively, the serverjournal cursor value 2217 can be specific to the combination of thecontent item namespace and the target block server identified (2214 and2213, respectively) in the entry 2212.

7.3 Replication Log

According to some example embodiments of the present invention, anon-premises block server maintains a content item block replication login local storage (e.g., 124-1) at the on-premises block server. Thereplication log stores one or more replication log entries. Each logentry represents a replication task for the block server of theon-premises block server. A replication task can involve either a)offering to send one or more content item blocks to one or more otherblock servers and sending one or more content item blocks to the blockservers that accept the offer, or b) downloading one or more contentitem blocks from the off-premises block server.

Turning now to FIG. 23, it is a block diagram of a content item blockreplication log 2300 that may be stored locally at an on-premises blockserver. The replication log 2300 contains one or more replication logentries 2302. Each replication log entry 2302 corresponds to either anoffer newer server journal entry or a download newer server journalentry determined by the metadata server 150. The block agent may add areplication log entry 2302 to the replication log 2300 for a newerserver journal entry and each download newer server journal entryreceived from the metadata server 150.

A replication log entry 2302 may contain a replication log entry typeidentifier 2318, a content item namespace identifier 2314, a contentitem block list 2316, and one or more block server task entries 2319.The replication log entry type identifier 2318 indicates whether thecorresponding newer server journal entry 2212 is an offer-type newerserver journal entry or a download-type newer server journal entry. Thecontent item namespace identifier 2314 corresponds to the content itemnamespace identifier 2214 of the corresponding newer server journalentry 2212. The content item block list 2316 corresponds to the contentitem block list 2216 of the corresponding newer server journal entry2212. Each block server task entry 2319 represents a replication task tobe performed by the block agent at the on-premises block server withanother block server that is assigned to the content item namespace.

A block server task entry 2319 may identify 2313 another block serverassigned to the content item namespace and contains task metadata 2320related to performance of the replication task represented by the taskentry 2319. The task metadata 2320 indicates whether the replicationtask has been completed or not. The task metadata 2320 may include otherinformation such as the number of unsuccessful attempts to complete thereplication task that have already been made, error codes and errormessages related to unsuccessful attempts, and log messages reflectingreplication task execution.

While in some example embodiments only on-premises block serversmaintain a replication log, the off-premises block server 130 maintainsa replication log in other embodiments in addition to or instead of anon-premises block server maintaining a replication log. In this case, alog entry in the replication log maintained by the off-premises blockserver can represent either a) a replication task for the off-premisesblock server 130 of offering to send one or more content item blocks toone or more off-premises block servers and sending one or more contentitem blocks to the off-premises block servers that accept the offer, orb) downloading one or more content item blocks from an off-premisesblock server.

7.4 Providing Replication Tasks

FIG. 24 is a flow diagram of a process 2400 for providing replicationtasks to an on-premises block server (e.g., 120-1 or 120-2). The stepsof the process 2400 are as follows. At step 2402, the block agent (e.g.,126-1 or 126-2) of the on-premises block server determines the currentclient cursor value (e.g., 2117) for each content item namespaceassigned to the on-premises block server. As previously stated, thisinformation may be stored as part of content item block replicationmetadata (e.g., 2100) stored at the on-premises block server. At step2404, the block agent of the on-premises block server sends a blockserver list request to the metadata server (e.g., 150) of the onlinecontent management service. The block server list request contains thecurrent client cursor values determined at step 2402 in association withthe identifiers (e.g., 2114) of the content item namespaces to whichthey pertain. The block server list request may also contain a useraccount identifier (e.g., 312) identifying a user account that has beensuccessfully authenticated against and a block server identifieridentifying the on-premises block server making the block server listrequest.

At step 2406, the metadata server of the online content managementservice receives the block server list request and authenticates it.This may include accessing data in the metadata plane (e.g., 180) toverify that the user account identified in the block server list requestis authorized to make block server list requests for the on-premisesblock server identified in the block server list request. If not, themetadata server may deny the block server list request thereby endingthe process 2400. Authenticating the request may also include verifyingthat the content item namespace(s) identified in the block server listrequest are ones assigned to the block server identified in the request.For the remainder of the process 2400, the metadata server may ignoreany content item namespaces identified in the block server list requestthat are not currently assigned to the on-premises block server.

At step 2408, the metadata server accesses a sever journal (e.g., 2210)in the metadata plane to determine any newer server journal entries foreach content item namespace identified in the block server list request.This determination involves scanning the server journal starting at thenewest server journal entry and scanning back through the server journaluntil all “qualifying” newer server journal entries have been collectedfor each content item namespace. According to some example embodiments,a qualifying newer server journal entry is one that has all of thefollowing properties, or a subset or a superset thereof:

-   -   The content item namespace identified (e.g., 2214) in the server        journal entry (e.g., 2212-2) is one of the content item        namespaces identified in the block server list request;    -   More than one block server is assigned to the content item        namespace;    -   The block server identified (e.g., 2213) in the server journal        entry identifies either the block server making the block server        list request or the off-premises block server (e.g., 130) of the        online content management server; and    -   The server journal cursor value (e.g., 2217) of the server        journal entry is greater than the current client cursor value        for the content item namespace specified in the block server        list request.

At step 2410, the metadata server returns a response to the block serverlist request to the block agent of the on-premises block server. Theresponse may include information from each qualifying newer serverjournal entry identified at step 2408. In particular, the informationreturned for each qualifying newer server journal entry may include allof the following information, or a subset or a superset thereof:

-   -   The content item namespace identifier of the qualifying newer        server journal entry;    -   A replication task type indicator for the entry that varies        depending on the target block server identifier of the        qualifying newer server journal entry. In particular, if the        target block server identifier of the qualifying entry        identifies the block server that made the block server list        request, then the replication task type indicator indicates that        the replication task for the entry is the offer-type replication        task. On the other hand, if the target block server identifier        of the qualifying entry identifies the off-premises block        server, then the replication task type indicator indicates that        the replication task for the entry is the download-type        replication task;    -   The content item block list (e.g., 2216) of the qualifying        entry; or    -   The server journal cursor value of the qualifying entry.

At step 2412, the block agent of the on-premises block server receivesthe response to the block server list request from the metadata serverand stores one or more replication log entries (e.g., 2302-2) in areplication log (e.g., 2300) at the on-premises block server. Inparticular, information for each qualifying newer server journal entryreturned in the response is used to store a corresponding replicationlog entry in the replication log. For each content item namespace, theinformation for the qualifying newer server journal entries may beprocessed in increasing order of their server journal cursor values. Foreach qualifying newer server journal entry, a log entry type (e.g.,2318) based on the replication task type entry for the qualifying newerserver journal entry, a content item namespace identifier (e.g., 2314)based on the content item namespace identifier of the qualifying entry,a content item block list (e.g., 2316) that is the content item blocklist of the qualifying entry, and one or more block server task entries(e.g., 2319-2).

A block server task entry may be created for each other block serverassigned to the content item namespace identified in the log entry. Fordownload replication task-type log entries, there may be just one blockserver task entry for the off-premises block server. For offerreplication task-type log entries, a block server task entry may becreated for each other block server assigned to the content itemnamespace.

The task metadata (e.g., 2320) of the block server task entry isinitially set to indicate that the replication task is not yet complete.When a replication log entry is added to the replication log, thecurrent client cursor value (e.g., 2117) for the content item namespaceof the log entry in the corresponding assigned content item namespaceentry (e.g., 2102-2) at the on-premises block server is set to equal theserver journal cursor value of the corresponding qualifying entry. Bydoing so, the block agent will not receive information for thequalifying entry again in response to the next block server list requestmade by the block agent.

7.5 Processing Replication Tasks

FIGS. 25A-C comprise a flow diagram 2500 illustrating operation of theblock agent (e.g., 126-1) at an on-premises block server (e.g., 120-1)in processing replication tasks specified in a replication log (e.g.,2330) stored (e.g., in storage 124-1) at the on-premises block server.At step 2502, the block agent obtains a replication log entry (e.g.,2302-2) from the replication log. For example, the block agent mayperiodically scan the replication log for replication log entries thatare pending.

A replication log entry may be pending if at least one of the blockserver task entries (e.g., 2319-2) of the replication log entry ispending. A block server task entry may be pending if indicated so by itstask metadata (e.g., 2320). The task metadata of a block server taskentry may indicate that the block server task entry is pending in anumber of different ways. For example, the task metadata may contain avalue or set of values that indicate that the block server task entry ispending or not complete. According to some example embodiments, the taskmetadata contains a value reflecting a number of attempts that the blockagent has already made to complete the block server task entry. If thenumber is below or at a threshold, then the block server task entry ispending. If the number is above the threshold, then the block servertask entry is not pending. By attempting to complete a block server taskentry multiple times in the event of prior failures, greater resiliencyand fault tolerance is provided.

At step 2504, the block agent determines the replication task type(e.g., 2318) of the pending log entry. The replication task type can beone of “download” or “offer”. A download replication task type isperformed by the block agent to download content item blocks uploaded tothe off-premises block server (e.g., 130) that are not stored at theon-premises block server (i.e., are missing at the on-premises blockserver). An offer replication task type is performed by the block agentto offer to send content item blocks uploaded to the “offeror”on-premises block server to one or more other “offeree” block serversand send them to the other block servers that accept the offer.

An on-premises block server can only perform an offer replication taskwith another on-premises block server that it has a peering relationshipwith. A peering relationship between two on-premises block servers mayexist if it is possible to establish a network connection between theblock agents of the two on-premises block servers. It may not bepossible to establish a network connection between two on-premises blockservers because of a network firewall interposed on the network betweenthe two on-premises block servers, or simply because there is no networkthat connects the two on-premises block servers. For example, referringbriefly to FIG. 20, network firewall 165-1 or firewall 165-2 may preventon-premises block server 120-1 and on-premises block server 120-2 fromestablishing a network connection between them over WAN 160-3 orInternet 190. Alternatively, network firewalls 165-1 and 165-2 may allowthe block agents 126-1 and 126-2 to establish a network connectionbetween them over WAN 160-3 but not Internet 190. Other network firewallconfigurations are possible. For example, network firewalls 165-1 and165-2 may allow the block agents 126-1 and 126-2 to establish a networkconnection between them over WAN 160-3 or Internet 190. It should benoted that it is not necessary for a peering relationship to existbetween a pair of on-premises block servers that both on-premises blockservers of the pair be able to initiate establishment of a networkconnection between the on-premises block servers. For example, networkfirewalls 165-1 and 165-2 may allow block agent 126-1 at on-premisesblock server 102-1 to initiate establishment of a HTTPS connection overWAN 160-3 with block agent 126-2 at on-premises block server 102-1 butnot vice versa.

According to some example embodiments, if an on-premises block server Adoes not have a peering relationship with on-premises block server B,then on-premises block server A may not store a block server task entryfor on-premises block server B in its replication log when storing anoffer-type replication log entry in the replication log. This isbecause, in the absence of a peering relationship, on-premises blockserver A cannot offer any content item blocks to on-premises blockserver B. The offer-type replication log entry may be omitted altogetherfrom the replication log if all of the block server task entries of thereplication log entry are for on-premises block servers that on-premisesblock server A does not have peering relationships with. This isbecause, in the absence of peering relationship, on-premises blockserver A cannot offer any of its content item blocks to any otheron-premises block servers it does not have a peering relationship with.Alternatively, instead of omitting a block server task entry or areplication log entry in the absence of a peering relationship, a blockserver task entry for an on-premises block server can be stored as partof a replication log entry with task metadata that indicates that thereis no peering relationship with the on-premises block server identifiedin the block server task entry.

If, at step 2504, the block agent determines that the pendingreplication log entry is a download type replication log entry, then theprocess 2500 proceeds to step 2506 (FIG. 25B). A download typereplication log entry may contain a single block server task entry thatidentifies the off-premises block server of the online contentmanagement service. At step 2506, the block agent determines any missingcontent item blocks identified in the download-type replication logentry. This determination may be based on the content item block list(e.g., 2316) of the entry. At step 2508, the block agent downloads anymissing content item blocks from the off-premises block server. At step2510, depending on whether the download of missing content item blocksis successful, the block agent updates the task metadata of the blockserver task entry. For example, if not all of the content item blockscould be downloaded, then the block agent may update the task metadatato indicate so. For example, the block agent may increment an attemptcounter that tracks the number of attempts that have been made tosuccessfully download all of the missing content item blocks. On theother hand, if the block agent was successful at downloading all of themissing content item blocks, then task metadata may be updated toindicate that the block server task entry is no longer pending. Afterstep 2510, the process 2500 may return to step 2502 to process the nextpending replication log entry.

On the other hand, if, at step 2504, the block agent determines that thepending replication log entry is an offer type replication log entry,then the process 2500 proceeds to step 2512 (FIG. 25C). At step 2512,the block agent determines which of the content item blocks identifiedin the pending replication log entry that the on-premises block serveris in possession of (i.e., are stored at the on-premises block server).This determination may be based on the content item block list of thelog entry. All content item blocks identified in the content item blocklist of the log entry should be stored at the on-premises block serer,unless some or all of the content item blocks have been deleted orremoved from the on-premises block server. For example, content itemblocks may be deleted or removed from the on-premises block serveraccording to a least recently used scheme (e.g., least recentlydownloaded or least recently uploaded).

At step 2514, the block agent sends an offer request to each other blockserver identified in a pending block server task entry of the pendingreplication log entry that the offeror on-premises block server has apeering relationship with. It may be assumed in some implementationsthat the offeror on-premises block server has a peering relationshipwith the off-premises block server. The offer request may identify thecontent item block(s) that are offered. In particular, the offer requestmay include the content item block hashes of the content item blocksidentified in the pending replication log entry that the offeroron-premises block server is in possession of. The offer request may besent over a network connection (e.g., a HTTPS connection) establishedbetween the block agent at the offeror on-premises block server and theblock agent at an offeree block server.

At step 2516, the block agent at the offeror on-premises block serverreceives any acceptance responses sent by the offeree block server(s) inresponse to receiving an offer request from the offeror on-premisesblock server. Each acceptance response from an offeree block server mayidentify one or more of the offered content item blocks that arecurrently not stored at the offeree block server (i.e., are missing atthe offeree block server). Any missing content item block(s) can beidentified in the acceptance response by the content item block hash(es)of the missing content item block(s). An acceptance response from anofferee block server may also indicate that none of the offered contentitem blocks are missing at the offeree block server.

At step 2518, the block agent at the offeror on-premises block serversends (uploads) any missing content item block(s) at the offeree blockserver(s). In particular, for a given acceptance response from anofferee block server, the block agent at the offeror on-premises blockserver sends (uploads) any missing content item block(s) identified inthe acceptance response from the offeree block server.

At step 2520, the block agent at the offeror on-premises block serverupdates the task metadata of the pending block server task entries ofthe pending log entry. In particular, if an acceptance response wasreceived from an offeree block server corresponding to a block servertask entry, then the task metadata of the block server task entry isupdated depending on whether all missing content item block(s) weresuccessfully sent to the offeree block server or whether the acceptanceresponse indicated the no content item blocks are missing at the offereeblock server. In either case, the task metadata may be updated toindicate that the block server task entry is no longer pending. On theother hand, if an acceptance response was not received or there was afailure in sending (uploading) a missing content item block to theofferee block server, then an attempt counter of the task metadata maybe incremented, in which case the block server task entry may remainpending. After step 2520, the process 2500 may return to step 2502 toprocess the next pending replication log entry.

8.0 Deleting Content Item Blocks

Typically, it is expected, but not required, that an on-premises blockserver (e.g., 120) will have significantly less local data storage spacein its local storage (e.g., 124) than the off-premises block server(e.g., 130) has in its local storage (e.g., 134). For example, the totallocal storage at an on-premises block server may be on the order of oneto a few terabytes while the total local storage at the off-premisesblock server may on the order of eight (8) zettabytes. Thus, theoff-premises block server may have up to a billion times more storagespace than a given on-premises block server. Even though a givenon-premises block server may have many fewer content item namespacesassigned to it than the off-premises block server, the on-premises blockserver may still not have enough local storage space to store allcontent item blocks of all of the content items in all of the contentitem namespaces assigned to the on-premises block server.

According to some example embodiments, content item blocks locallystored at an on-premises block server are deleted or removed from thelocal storage to make local storage space at the on-premises blockserver available for other content item blocks. For example, the othercontent item blocks might be content item blocks that are being uploadedor are about to be uploaded or that will be uploaded to the on-premisesblock server.

Various different approaches may be employed to determine which contentitem blocks to delete or remove. According to some example embodiments,a least recently used (LRU) approach is employed. According to the LRUapproach, if the amount of local storage space at an on-premises blockserver consumed by content item blocks does not satisfy a threshold,then one or more least recently used content item blocks are deleted orremoved from local storage. The threshold can be based on a percentageof the total local storage space for content item blocks at theon-premises block server. Here, total local storage space refers to thecurrent maximum total amount of storage space available for storingcontent item blocks irrespective of whether some or all of that storagespace is currently used for storing content item blocks. If the currentconsumption amount is greater than the percentage, then the currentconsumption amount does not satisfy the threshold. The threshold caninstead be based on the current maximum local storage space amount thatremains after subtracting the amount of storage space currently used bycontent item blocks stored in the local storage. In this case, if thelocal storage space remaining after accounting for the currentconsumption amount is less than a threshold amount, then the currentconsumption amount does not satisfy the threshold.

A determination of whether the current consumption amount does or doesnot satisfy the threshold can be made at various different times. Onepossible time is when one or more content item blocks are uploaded tothe on-premises block server. In particular, if the current consumptionamount with the uploaded content item block(s) stored in local storagedoes not satisfy the threshold, then one or more content item blocks maybe deleted or removed from the local storage according to the LRUapproach.

A content item block stored in local storage may be considered to beleast recently used based on its most recent upload time and/or its mostrecent download time. The most recent upload time for a content itemblock reflects a time at which the content item block was most recentlyuploaded to the on-premises block server. For example, the content itemblock stored in local storage that, according to the most recent uploadtime for the content item block, was least recently uploaded to theon-premises block server may be deleted or removed. The most recentdownload time for a content item block reflects a time at which thecontent item block was most recently downloaded from the on-premisesblock server. For example, the content item block stored in localstorage that, according to the most recent download time for the contentitem block, was least recently download from the on-premises blockserver may be deleted or removed. The on-premises block server may storeand maintain metadata that reflects the most recent upload and downloadtimes for content item blocks stored at the on-premises block server.

According to some example embodiments, a qualified LRU approach is used.According the qualified LRU approach, a content item block thatqualifies for deletion or removal according to the LRU approachdiscussed above, is not deleted or removed unless additional conditionsare met.

One possible additional condition is that the content item block that isa candidate for deletion or removal be stored at one or more other blockservers, either the off-premises block server, one or more otheron-premises block servers, or one or more other on-premises block serverand the off-premises block server. If the candidate content item blockis stored only at the on-premises block server at which it is acandidate for deletion or removal, then the content item block may notbe deleted or removed in order to preserve the potentially only copy ofthe content item block.

Another possible condition is that the content item block that is acandidate for deletion or removal belongs to a content item that belongsto a content item namespace that is assigned to at least one other blockserver in addition to the on-premises block server at which the contentitem block is a candidate for deletion. If the content item namespace isassigned only to the on-premises block server at which the content itemblock is a candidate for deletion or removal, then the content itemblock may not be deleted or removed in order to preserve the potentiallyonly copy of the content item block.

Another possible condition is that the content item block is speciallymarked as a “sticky” content item block. A sticky content item block isa content item block that is not deleted or removed until all non-stickycontent item blocks have been deleted or removed. Designating contentitem blocks as sticky can help prevent deletion or removal of a contentitem block that is important or relatively more likely to be downloadedin the future. A content item block may be designated as sticky based ona content item namespace with which it is associated. In particular, acontent item namespace may be designated as sticky by a user of theonline content management service through a graphical user interfaceprovided by the online content management service (e.g., via web site170). Alternatively, a content item namespace may be automaticallydesignated as sticky based on characteristics and usage of the contentitem namespace. For example, if a content item namespace is shared amonga large number of users (e.g., ten or more), then the content itemnamespace may be automatically designated as sticky. This is useful toprevent the deletion or removal of content item blocks that are sharedamong a large number of users. In some example embodiments, a sharedcontent item namespace is designated sticky only if there has beenrecent user activity in the content item namespace. This is useful toprevent retaining content item blocks that have not recently been used.Recent activity may include recently (e.g., within the past day, week,month, or year) downloading, uploading, or accessing a content itembelonging to the content item namespace. A content item namespacedesignated as sticky as a first time may automatically no longer bedesignated as sticky at a later second time if the condition fordesignating the content item namespace as sticky no longer exists. Forexample, if a content item namespace designated as sticky based onrecent activity at a first time no longer has recent activity at a latersecond time, then, at or after the second time, the content itemnamespace may no longer be designated as sticky. An on-premises blockserver may store and maintain metadata that indicates which locallystored content item blocks and/or assigned content item namespaces aredesignated as sticky.

According to some embodiments, there are multiple levels of stickinessand content item blocks are deleted or removed according to thequalified LRU approach in order of their level of stickiness. Forexample, there may be three levels of stickiness A, B, and C where levelC is lower than level B and level B is lower than level A. In this case,the content item blocks that are not designated at any level ofstickiness are deleted or removed before the first content item block atlevel C is deleted or removed. Content item blocks at level C aredeleted or removed before the first content item block at level B isdeleted or removed. Content item blocks at level B are deleted orremoved before the first content item block at level A.

9.0 Content Item Block Replication when Assignment Occurs

A content item namespace can be assigned to a block server to which itis not currently assigned. For example, a content item namespace may beassigned to just the off-premises block server 130. Then, at a latertime, the content item namespace may be assigned to the off-premisesblock server 130 and on-premises block server 120-1. Then, at a latertime still, the content item namespace may be assigned to theoff-premises block server 130, on-premises block server 120-1, andon-premises block server 120-2. As another example, a content itemnamespace may be assigned to on-premises block server 120-1 and then,later, assigned to the off-premises block server 120-1 and theoff-premises block sever 130. Thus, the set of block servers to which acontent item namespace is assigned at one time may be different than theset of block servers to which the content item namespace is assignmentat another time.

When a content item namespace is assigned to a new block server, theblock server may store only some or none of the content item blocks thatmake up the content items that belong to the content item namespace. Asa result, a content item synchronization agent at a personal computingdevice may not be able to download from the block server a content itemblock of a content item in the content item namespace.

According to some example embodiments of the present invention, when acontent item namespace is assigned to a new block server in a situationwhere the content item namespace is currently assigned to one or moreother block servers, content item blocks of content items in the contentitem namespace are replicated to the new block server from the otherblock server(s). For example, if content item namespace ‘ABC123’ isassigned to off-premises block server 130 and then later is assigned toon-premises block server 120-1, then on-premises block server 120-1 candownload from on-premises block server 130 content item blocks that makeup content items in the ‘ABC123’ content item namespace. As anotherexample, if content item namespace ‘DEF456’ is assigned to on-premisesblock server 120-1 and then later assigned to on-premises block server120-2, then on-premises block server 120-1 can offer and send toon-premises block server 120-2 content item blocks that make up contentitems in the ‘DEF456’ content item namespace.

According to some example embodiments, when a content item namespacethat is currently assigned to one or more block servers is assigned to anew block server, content item blocks are replicated from the currentlyassigned block server(s) to the new block server in accordance with thecontent item block replication protocol described above. In particular,the block server identifier of the new block server is added as anassigned block server identifier 2113 to the assigned content itemnamespace entry 2102 for the content item namespace in the content itemblock replication metadata 2100 maintained at each of the currentlyassigned on-premises block server(s) and the new block server. Forexample, the block agent at each of the currently assigned on-premisesblock server(s) and the new block server may add this information to thelocally stored content item block replication metadata 2100 based oninformation it receives from the metadata server 150. For example, theblock agent at a currently assigned on-premises block server and the newblock server may receive this information from the metadata server 150in the response to a block server list request. For example, after thecontent item namespace is assigned to the new block server, thenotification server 140 may send a ping message to the block agent ateach of the currently assigned on-premises block servers and the newblock server. Responsive to receiving the ping message, the block agentat a currently assigned on-premises block server and the new blockserver may send a block server list request to the metadata server 150and receive from the metadata server 150 in the response to the blockserver list request that the content item namespace is now assigned tothe new block server.

The block agent at each of the currently assigned on-premises blockserver(s) may then scan its replication log 2300 for offer-type logentries 2302 with a content item namespace identifier 2314 that matchesthe identifier of the content item namespace newly assigned to the newblock server and with a log entry type 2318 that indicates that the logentry is an offer-type log entry as opposed to a download typelog-entry. A new block server task entry 2319 is added to each suchoffer-type log entry. The new block server task entry has a block serveridentifier 2313 identifying the new block server and task metadata 2320indicating that the replication task is not yet complete. The blockagent at each of the currently assigned on-premises block server(s) canthen offer the content item blocks in the content item namespace that ithas in its possession to the new block server in accordance with thecontent item block replication process 2500 described above.

Also, the block agent at the new block server may perform the contentitem block replication processes 2400 and 2500 described above todownload from the off-premises block server any content item blocks inthe content item namespace assigned to the new block server.

10.0 on-Premises Content Management Service

In some example embodiments, functionality of the control plane and themetadata plane of the online content management service is providedon-premises. In particular, an on-premises control plane including anotification server (e.g., like 140), a metadata server (e.g., like 150)and a web site (e.g., like 170) may be coupled by a back-end data bus toan on-premises block server (e.g., 120) and to an on-premises metadataplane (e.g., like 180). In this case, the synchronization protocoloperations described herein may be performed against an on-premisescontent management service for content items that are committed to anon-premises block server.

For example, the upload and download processes according to the firstexample synchronization protocol operation described above may beperformed using an on-premises notification server, an on-premisesmetadata server, an on-premises metadata server, and an on-premisesblock server. For example, without loss of generality, in theinteraction diagrams 500 of FIG. 5, 600 of FIG. 6, 900 of FIG. 9, 1200of FIG. 12, 1300 of FIG. 13, and 1500 of FIG. 15, metadata server 150may be substituted with an on-premises metadata server, notificationserver 140 may be substituted with an on-premises notification server,and metadata plane 180 may be substituted with an on-premises metadataplane, all connected together by an on-premises back-end data bus. Whenan on-premises control plane and/or metadata plane are used, theimplementation of the on-premises components may require fewer computingresources (e.g., servers) than the computing resources required toimplement the control plane and the metadata plane of the off-premisescontent management service, depending on the volume of content itemscommitted to the on-premises block server when compared to theoff-premises block server 130.

While in some example embodiments only the off-premises metadata server150 maintains a server content item journal, an on-premises metadataserver maintains a server content item journal in other exampleembodiments. For example, when an on-premises metadata server is used,the on-premises metadata server may maintain a server content itemjournal in an on-premises metadata plane for content items committed toan on-premises block server associated with the on-premises metadataserver. For example, the on-premises metadata server may maintain aserver content item journal like journal 410 of FIG. 4, journal 1110 ofFIG. 11, or journal 2210 of FIG. 22.

While in some example embodiments only the off-premises metadata plane180 stores user account records (e.g., 310), an on-premises metadataplane stores user account records in other example embodiments. Forexample, an on-premises metadata plane may store user account recordsfor users that use an on-premises block server associated with theon-premises metadata plane (e.g., via an on-premises back-end data bus)to host their content items. When only the off-premises metadata plane180 stores user account records, an on-premises metadata server mayaccess the user account records, or information thereof, via theoff-premises metadata server 150.

While in some example embodiments only the off-premises metadata plane180 stores linked device records (e.g., 810), an on-premises metadataplane maintains linked device records in other example embodiments. Forexample, an on-premises metadata plane may maintain linked devicerecords for devices that use an on-premises block server associated withthe on-premises metadata plane (e.g., via an on-premises back-end databus) to store and retrieve content item blocks. When only theoff-premises metadata plane 180 stores linked device records, anon-premises metadata server may access the user account records, orinformation thereof, via the off-premises metadata server 150.

11.0 Selective Content Item Synchronization

Historically, existing online content management services have beenadequate at keeping personal content items in sync between a user'smultiple devices. For example, with existing systems, user A couldcreate or modify a document on a laptop device linked to the system andthat update is automatically replicated through the system to user A'sother linked devices such that all of the copies of the document at allof the linked devices are identical after the update is applied at allof the other linked devices as part of synchronization operationsbetween the devices and the system.

In the business context, content items created by employees generallybelong to the business and not the employees themselves. Further,businesses historically have viewed their content items as beingcentralized such as on a file server as opposed to being distributedamong many personal computing devices. This centralized view made iseasier for a business to segregate personal content items from contentitems belonging to the business. For example, an IT manager oradministrator for a business could safely assume that all content itemsstored on the file server belong to the business. Further, owing to thecentralized nature of the content items, it was easier for the businessto control access to content items. For example, the IT manager oradministrator can set access control permissions on content items storedon the company file server. Also, in many cases, the lifetime of contentitems belonging to the business exceeds the length of employment of anygiven employee. By storing content items belonging to it on acentralized file server, the business can provision access to contentitems to new employees simply by setting the appropriate access controlpermissions on the content items in the file server. Similarly, thebusiness can revoke access to content items on the file server fromdeparting employees simply by changing the access control permissions torevoke access. From the perspective of the business, the file server isviewed as the centralized repository for the business's content itemsthat exist over time as employees come and go.

With some existing online content management services, the content itemstorage model is less centralized than the traditional file servermodel. In particular, with these systems, each user of the system hastheir own individual synchronization repository on their personalcomputing device (e.g., in local storage 112-1 of device 110-1) wherecontent items synchronized with the system are stored. Further, eachuser generally maintains their individual synchronization repositoryindependently of each other. For example, with the existing system, userAlice's synchronization repository (e.g., at device 110-1) may notprovide any inherent visibility into user Bob's synchronizationrepository (e.g., at device 110-2). In particular, user Alice may notknow what content items are stored in user Bob's synchronizationrepository, and vice versa. Some existing services provide mechanisms toshare selected content items between synchronization repositories. Forexample, with some existing services, user Alice can share a folder inher synchronization repository with user Bob such that updates Bob makesto the shared folder in his synchronization repository are seen by Alicein her synchronization repository, and vice versa. However, with theexisting system, ownership of the shared folder is tied to anindividual. This is problematic if Alice leaves the company anddecommissions her synchronization repository or simply deletes theshared folder from her synchronization repository. In this case, thefolder she shared with Bob may no longer be accessible to Bob. In theworst case, all of the work accumulated in the shared folder is lost.

Another problem with shared folders on existing systems is thathierarchical information pertaining to the shared folder may be lostwhen the shared folder is incorporated into another's synchronizationrepository. For example, assume Alice has a folder in hersynchronization repository with the path/AB/C. With existing systems, ifuser Alice shares folder/A/B/C with user Bob, the folder appears as/C inBob's synchronization repository with the hierarchical information aboutparent folders “A” and “B” lost. This is problematic, especially if thenames of the parent folders convey information about what is stored inthe shared folder. Overall, existing cloud-based content managementservices, due to the individualized and distributed nature ofsynchronization repositories, increase coordination costs for a businesswhen used for managing and storing content items belonging to thebusiness.

According to some example embodiments of present invention, only asubset of the content items belonging to a “selectively synchronized”content item namespace is stored at a user device (e.g., 110-1) at atime. A user can browse a file-folder hierarchy of the content itemnamespace at the user device using a file system browser provided by anoperating system of the device 102 (e.g., the finder on MAC OS devicesor the WINDOWS EXPLORER on WINDOWS devices).

According to some embodiments, an actionable icon corresponding to theselectively synchronized content item namespace appears in a graphicaluser interface (GUI) at the device. For example, the icon may appear onthe desktop of the GUI provided by the operating system on the device.The user may interact with the icon (e.g., double-click on the icon) toopen a file explorer like-view of the file-folder hierarchy of theselectively synchronized content item namespace. Further, an icon orother indication of the selectively synchronized content item namespacemay also be displayed with other shared resources in an interfaceprovided by the operating system on the device. For example, anactionable icon or text may be presented in the GUI along with mounteddrives, shared drives, network drives, or other connected resources. Bydoing so, the user can access the selectively synchronized content itemnamespace from a familiar location where the user knows to access otherconnected resources such as mounted drives, external disks, and networkdrives.

FIG. 26A depicts an example GUI 2600A presented at a user device (e.g.,110-1). The GUI 2600A includes a desktop 2602A, a file system browser2604A, and a selectively synchronized content item namespace launchericon 2606A. The desktop 2602A may be presented by an operating system ofthe device. The file system browser 2604A and the launcher icon 2606Amay be presented by a combination of the operating system and thecontent item synchronization agent (e.g., 114-1) of the device.

According to some embodiments, as shown in FIG. 26A, a selectivelysynchronized content item namespace is represented like a mounted drive,disk, or device or a shared resource in a file system browser providedby the operating system of the device. For example, a selectivelysynchronized content item namespace named “Acme” is represented in filesystem browser 2604A as a shared resource 2608A, which is currentlyselected, as indicated with highlighting. By representing a selectivelysynchronized content item namespace in this way, integration of thecontent item namespace into the desktop 2602A environment is moreseamless based on the user's prior familiarity with the file systembrowser.

As mentioned, according to some embodiments, less than all of thecontent items belonging to a selectively synchronized content itemnamespace may be stored at the user device. However, a file-folderrepresentation of the entire file-folder hierarchy of the content itemnamespace may still be provided. For example, file system browser 2604Aincludes a plurality of folder icons. Each folder icon (e.g., 2610A)represents a folder at the root of, or contained in another folder of,the file-folder hierarchy of the “Acme” content item namespace. Eachfolder icon (e.g., 2610A) includes a synchronization configurationstatus icon, which indicates a current synchronization configurationwith respect to the content items contained in the corresponding folder.

According to some embodiments, there are at least two differentsynchronization configuration status icons corresponding to twodifferent synchronization configurations. One configuration status iconrepresents that the content items in the content item folder arecurrently configured for network access. That is, when the user requeststo access a content item configured network access at the device (e.g.,by attempting to open a file corresponding to the content item in anapplication at the device), any content item blocks of the content itemthat are not stored locally at the device (e.g., in local storage 112-1)are downloaded by the content item synchronization agent at the devicefrom an on-premises block server (e.g. 120) or the off-premises blockserver 130. The downloaded content item blocks may be stored locally fora period of time at the device on the expectation that they will beneeded again in the near future. For example, downloaded content itemblocks may be stored in a content item block pool maintained by thecontent item synchronization agent in local storage of the user device.The content item synchronization agent may delete (remove) content itemblocks from the block pool as and when needed (e.g., to make morestorage space available in the local storage or in the block pool).

In the example of FIG. 26A, the synchronization configuration statusicon that represents this configuration has the appearance of a cloud.For example, a cloud icon appears in conjunction with the “Accounting”folder 2610A to indicate that the content items contained in that folder(and any sub-folders thereof) are configured for network access. Anotherconfiguration status icon represents that the content items contained ina folder are currently available for offline access. That is, thecontent items in the folder are stored locally at the device as files inthe device's file system. In the example of FIG. 26A, the iconrepresenting this configuration has the appearance of a checkmark. Forexample, a checkmark appears in conjunction with the “Sam Jau” contentitem folder 2612A to indicate that the content items of that folder arestored locally at the user device as files and thus available for accesseven when the user device is not connected to a communication network(e.g., 160).

By viewing the synchronization configuration status icons, the user canquickly discern whether the content items of a corresponding folder areconfigured for network access or available for offline access at theuser's device. The same or similar icons may also be used to representthe current synchronization configuration status of a file, as opposedto a folder.

According to some embodiments, the user may interact with the GUI at theuser device to change the current synchronization configuration statusof a selected folder or a file in the file-folder hierarchy of aselectively synchronized content item namespace. According to someembodiments, if the synchronization configuration status for a folder ischanged from network access to offline access, then the content itemsynchronization agent at the device downloads any missing content itemblocks of the content items belonging to the folder from one or moreblock servers in response to detecting the change. Thereafter, so longas the synchronization configuration status for the folder remainsoffline access, the content item synchronization agent at the userdevice will keep the content items contained within the folder in syncwith the current versions of content items item in accordance with acontent item synchronization protocol described above.

For example, in FIG. 26B, the user has right-clicked on the “Accounting”folder icon 2610B. In response, a pop-up menu 2618B is displayed in GUI2600B. The menu 2618B provides the option 2616B to change the currentsynchronization configuration status for the “Accounting” folder fromnetwork access to offline-access.

In response to selecting option 2616B, any missing content item blocksof the content items contained in the “Accounting” folder (and anysub-folders thereof) are downloaded from one or more block servers(e.g., block server 120) to the user device. While downloading themissing content item blocks, the folder icon 2601B may contain aprogress bar as shown in GUI 2600C in FIG. 26C displaying the progressof the download. After the missing content item blocks of content itemscontained in the “Accounting” content item folder have finisheddownloading to the user device, the synchronization configuration statusicon changes to indicate that the content items contained in the folderare now available for offline access. For example FIG. 26D shows thefolder icon 2610D now with a checkmark to indicate that the contentitems contained in the “Accounting” content item folder are nowavailable for offline access.

According to some embodiments, content items belonging to a selectivelysynchronized content item namespace can also be configured for networkaccess or offline access. If a content item is configured for networkaccess and the user opens the content item at the user device (e.g., bydouble-clicking an icon representing a file corresponding to the contentitem), then any missing content item blocks of the content item may bedownloaded by the content item synchronization agent on the user devicefrom one or more block servers before it the content item is opened atthe user device and its contents presented to the user. Thereafter, thecontent item may be configured for offline access and that configurationindicated as such in the GUI at the user device. In other words, theuser's request to open the content item locally at the user device maybe interpreted as a request to change the synchronization configurationfrom network access to offline access. In some embodiments, thesynchronization configuration status is only changed if the user takessome other action in addition to opening the content item. For example,the synchronization configuration status may be automatically changedfrom network access to offline access if the user both opens the contentitem and edits the content item or opens the content item multiple timeswithin a threshold period of time (e.g., 24 hours). In the case wherethe synchronization configuration status is not changed from networkaccess to offline access when the user merely opens the content item,any missing content item blocks of the content item are still downloadedto the user device and may be cached at the user device (e.g., in theblock pool) for some time in anticipation of possible subsequent accessby the user. However, the synchronization configuration status icon ofthe content item in the GUI may continue to indicate network access(e.g., with a cloud icon).

According to some embodiments, the content item synchronization agent(e.g., 114-1) at a user device (e.g., 110-1) detects when the amount oflocal storage space (e.g., of local storage 112-1) occupied by contentitems belonging to a selectively synchronized content item namespacethat are configured for offline access exceeds a threshold or athreshold percentage. In response to exceeding the threshold, thecontent item synchronization agent may prompt the user to change thesynchronization configuration status of one or more folders or filesthat are currently configured for offline access to network access. Atthe same time, the content item synchronization agent may delete, fromthe user device, files corresponding to content items previouslyconfigured for offline access so as to free up local storage space.

12.0 Distributed Block Caching Optimization

According to some example embodiments of the present invention, theblock service 122 and/or the block agent 126 of an on-premises blockserver 120 provides a distributed block caching optimization function.The function may be used in conjunction with selectively synchronizedcontent item namespaces. With selectively synchronized content itemnamespaces, a “placeholder” file may be stored at a user's device (e.g.,110-1) for a content item that belongs to a selectively synchronizedcontent item namespace, a content item contained with a folderconfigured at the user's device for network access, or a filecorresponding to a content item configured at the user's device fornetwork access. The placeholder file may be a zero byte file, forexample. With a placeholder file, the user can view in a graphical userinterface at the user's device (e.g., provided by a file system browserapplication) the file name of the placeholder file and the location ofplaceholder file in a file system file-folder hierarchy at the user'sdevice. However, the contents of the placeholder file (i.e., the contentitem) is not stored within the placeholder file at the user's deviceuntil the contents are needed by the user. The placeholder file mayexist at the user device's representing the content item for some timeuntil the user wishes to access the content item. Thus, the placeholderfile for a content item provides the benefit to the user of being ableto discover and locate the content item using conventional file systemexplorers, browsers, and search interfaces, while at the same time notconsuming local storage space at the user's device until the contentitem is accessed.

When a user attempts to access a content item via a placeholder file atthe user's device, the access attempt is intercepted by the content itemsynchronization agent (e.g., 114-1) at the user's device. For example,the agent may be notified via an API offered by an operating system ofthe device when the access attempt is made. The access attempt may beinitiated by a number of different types of user interactions with theplaceholder filer such as, for example, attempting to open the file inan application (e.g., a word processing application, etc.) on the user'sdevice.

Upon intercepting the access attempt, the synchronization agentdetermines if the placeholder file is “filled”. By filled, it is meantthat all content item blocks that make up the content item representedby the placeholder file are stored and assembled within the placeholderfile. In this case, the placeholder file is no longer a placeholder forthe content item because the file contains the content item. On theother hand, if the placeholder file is “empty” (i.e., not filled), thesome or all of the content item blocks that make up the content item mayneed to be downloaded to the user's device from one or more blockservers, if the missing content item blocks are not already stored atthe user's device (e.g., in a block pool). Users would appreciate that aplaceholder file be filled as quickly as possible upon access. One wayto reduce the fill time is to have all of the content item blocks of thecontent item already stored at the user's device when the placeholderfile is accessed. This may not be possible depending on the amount ofstorage space available at the user's device for storing or cachingcontent item blocks. Short of that, the fill time can be reduced bystoring missing content item blocks as close as possible on the networkto the user's device so that block download time is minimized. Forexample, it would be expected that the block download time would beshorter if the missing content item blocks were available at anon-premises block server or at a peer device (e.g., 110-2) connected tothe same local area network (e.g., 160) as the user's device than if themissing blocks were downloaded over the Internet from the off-premisesblock server 130.

According to some example embodiments, content item blocks forselectively synchronized content items are stored on-premises to reducetime needed to fill placeholder files on access. FIG. 27 illustrates anexample system configuration for distributed block caching optimization,according to some example embodiments of the present invention. Thesystem 2700, like system 100 of FIG. 100, includes the online contentmanagement service with a storage plane and the off-premises blockserver 130. Although not shown in FIG. 27, system 2700 also includes theother components of the online content management service including thecontrol plane with the notification server 140, the metadata server 150,and web site 170, the back-end data bus, and the metadata plane 180.

In this example, content items belonging to a selectively synchronizedcontent item namespace are composed of twelve content item blocksindicated in FIG. 27 as B1 through B12. All twelve content item blocksare stored in the local storage 134 of the off-premises block server130. Of course, in a practical embodiment, content items belonging to aselectively synchronized content item namespace may be composed of manymore than twelve content item blocks (e.g., hundreds, thousands,millions, or more) depending on the number of content items that belongto the content item namespace and the sizes of the content items.

Also in this example, content item blocks B1 through B6 are stored aspart of local files at personal computing devices 110-1, 110-2, and110-3. In particular, content item blocks B1 and B2 are stored as partof one or more local files at personal computing device 110-1, contentitem blocks B3 and B4 are stored as part of one or more local files atpersonal computing device 110-2, and content item b locks B5 and B6 arestored as part one or more local files at personal computing device110-3.

Each of personal computing devices 110-1, 110-2, and 110-3 may alsostore one or more placeholder files (not shown) representing contentitems belonging to the selectively synchronized content item namespace.The placeholder files may correspond to content items that are made upof blocks B7 though B12. These blocks are distributed among the blockpools at each of the devices 110-1, 110-2, and 110-3 and the on-premisesblock server 120. In particular, device 110-1 stores block B7 in itsblock pool, device 110-2 stores block B8 in its block pool, device 110-3stores block B9 in its block server, and the on-premises block server120 stores blocks B10 through B12.

When a content item block is needed to fill a placeholder file accessedat a device, the synchronization agent at the device can obtain theblock from its local block pool, from a peer device, or from anon-premises block server. For example, if a placeholder file accessed atdevice 110-1 requires block B8, then the agent 114-1 can obtain block B8from device 110-2. Alternatively, if the placeholder file requires oneor more of blocks B10 through B12, then the agent 114-1 can download themissing blocks from the on-premises block server 120.

According to some example embodiments, metadata is maintained (referredto hereinafter as a “namespace block list”) at the on-premises blockserver 120 which identifies content item blocks by their blockidentifiers that make up content items belonging to a selectivelysynchronized content item namespace. For example, on-premises blockserver 120 may maintain metadata identifying blocks B1 through B12. Themaintained metadata may be updated from time to time as new contentitems are added to the content item namespace and existing content itemsremoved from the content item namespace.

On regular or periodic intervals or in response to detecting an event(e.g., a new content item added to or removed from the content itemnamespace), the block agent 126 at the on-premises block server 120checks whether all of the content item blocks identified in thenamespace block list are available at the on-premises block server 120.For example, the block agent 126 may check whether blocks B1 through B2are stored in local storage 124 of the block server 120.

If less than all of the blocks in the namespace block list are stored atthe on-premises block server 120, then the block agent 126 may attemptto download to the on-premises block server 120 from the off-premisesblock server 130 any missing content item blocks. For example, if thenamespace block list identifies blocks B1 through B12 and theon-premises block server 120 currently stores blocks B10 through B12,then the block agent 126 may attempt to download missing blocks B1through B9 from the on-premises block server 130.

It may be the case that there is not sufficient storage space availableat the on-premises block server 120 to store the missing blocks B1through B9. In this case, the block agent 120 may send a network messageto the content item synchronization agent at one or more personalcomputing devices to download one or more of the missing content itemblocks from the off-premises block server 130 and store the downloadedblocks in their respective block pools. In the example of FIG. 27, theblock agent 126 has instructed agent 114-1 to download and store blockB7, agent 114-2 to download and store block B8, and agent 114-3 todownload and store block B9. The result is the all blocks B1 through B12are available on the local area network 160 for quickly filling accessedplaceholder files at devices 110-1, 110-2, and 110-3.

The distribution of blocks as well as the blocks themselves betweendevices 110-1, 110-2, and 110-3 and on-premises block server 120 maychange from time to time. For example, the set of content itemsidentifies in the namespace block list for a content item namespace atthe on-premises block server 120 may change from time to time as newcontent items (and thus new content item blocks) are added to thecontent item namespace and existing content items (and thus existingcontent item blocks) are removed from the content item namespace.

13.0 Basic Computing Hardware and Software

13.1 Basic Computing Device

Referring now to FIG. 28, it is a block diagram that illustrates a basiccomputing device 2800 in which the example embodiment(s) of the presentinvention can be embodied. Computing device 2800 and its components,including their connections, relationships, and functions, is meant tobe exemplary only, and not meant to limit implementations of the exampleembodiment(s). Other computing devices suitable for implementing theexample embodiment(s) can have different components, includingcomponents with different connections, relationships, and functions.

Computing device 2800 can include a bus 2802 or other communicationmechanism for addressing main memory 2806 and for transferring databetween and among the various components of device 2800.

Computing device 2800 can also include one or more hardware processors2804 coupled with bus 2802 for processing information. A hardwareprocessor 2804 can be a general purpose microprocessor, a system on achip (SoC), or other processor.

Main memory 2806, such as a random access memory (RAM) or other dynamicstorage device, also can be coupled to bus 2802 for storing informationand software instructions to be executed by processor(s) 2804. Mainmemory 2806 also can be used for storing temporary variables or otherintermediate information during execution of software instructions to beexecuted by processor(s) 2804.

Software instructions, when stored in storage media accessible toprocessor(s) 2804, render computing device 2800 into a special-purposecomputing device that is customized to perform the operations specifiedin the software instructions. The terms “software”, “softwareinstructions”, “computer program”, “computer-executable instructions”,and “processor-executable instructions” are to be broadly construed tocover any machine-readable information, whether or not human-readable,for instructing a computing device to perform specific operations, andincluding, but not limited to, application software, desktopapplications, scripts, binaries, operating systems, device drivers, bootloaders, shells, utilities, system software, JAVASCRIPT, web pages, webapplications, plugins, embedded software, microcode, compilers,debuggers, interpreters, virtual machines, linkers, and text editors.

Computing device 2800 also can include read only memory (ROM) 2808 orother static storage device coupled to bus 2802 for storing staticinformation and software instructions for processor(s) 2804.

One or more mass storage devices 2810 can be coupled to bus 2802 forpersistently storing information and software instructions on fixed orremovable media, such as magnetic, optical, solid-state,magnetic-optical, flash memory, or any other available mass storagetechnology. The mass storage can be shared on a network, or it can bededicated mass storage. Typically, at least one of the mass storagedevices 2810 (e.g., the main hard disk for the device) stores a body ofprogram and data for directing operation of the computing device,including an operating system, user application programs, driver andother support files, as well as other data files of all sorts.

Computing device 2800 can be coupled via bus 2802 to display 2812, suchas a liquid crystal display (LCD) or other electronic visual display,for displaying information to a computer user. In some configurations, atouch sensitive surface incorporating touch detection technology (e.g.,resistive, capacitive, etc.) can be overlaid on display 2812 to form atouch sensitive display for communicating touch gesture (e.g., finger orstylus) input to processor(s) 2804.

An input device 2814, including alphanumeric and other keys, can becoupled to bus 2802 for communicating information and command selectionsto processor 2804. In addition to or instead of alphanumeric and otherkeys, input device 2814 can include one or more physical buttons orswitches such as, for example, a power (on/off) button, a “home” button,volume control buttons, or the like.

Another type of user input device can be a cursor control 2816, such asa mouse, a trackball, or cursor direction keys for communicatingdirection information and command selections to processor 2804 and forcontrolling cursor movement on display 2812. This input device typicallyhas two degrees of freedom in two axes, a first axis (e.g., x) and asecond axis (e.g., y), that allows the device to specify positions in aplane.

While in some configurations, such as the configuration depicted in FIG.28, one or more of display 2812, input device 2814, and cursor control2816 are external components (i.e., peripheral devices) of computingdevice 2800, some or all of display 2812, input device 2814, and cursorcontrol 2816 are integrated as part of the form factor of computingdevice 2800 in other configurations.

Functions of the disclosed systems, methods, and modules can beperformed by computing device 2800 in response to processor(s) 2804executing one or more programs of software instructions contained inmain memory 2806. Such software instructions can be read into mainmemory 2806 from another storage medium, such as storage device(s) 2810.Execution of the software instructions contained in main memory 2806cause processor(s) 2804 to perform the functions of the exampleembodiment(s).

While functions and operations of the example embodiment(s) can beimplemented entirely with software instructions, hard-wired orprogrammable circuitry of computing device 2800 (e.g., an ASIC, a FPGA,or the like) can be used in other embodiments in place of or incombination with software instructions to perform the functions,according to the requirements of the particular implementation at hand.

The term “storage media” as used herein refers to any non-transitorymedia that store data and/or software instructions that cause acomputing device to operate in a specific fashion. Such storage mediacan comprise non-volatile media and/or volatile media. Non-volatilemedia includes, for example, non-volatile random access memory (NVRAM),flash memory, optical disks, magnetic disks, or solid-state drives, suchas storage device 2810. Volatile media includes dynamic memory, such asmain memory 2806. Common forms of storage media include, for example, afloppy disk, a flexible disk, hard disk, solid-state drive, magnetictape, or any other magnetic data storage medium, a CD-ROM, any otheroptical data storage medium, any physical medium with patterns of holes,a RAM, a PROM, and EPROM, a FLASH-EPROM, NVRAM, flash memory, any othermemory chip or cartridge.

Storage media is distinct from but can be used in conjunction withtransmission media. Transmission media participates in transferringinformation between storage media. For example, transmission mediaincludes coaxial cables, copper wire and fiber optics, including thewires that comprise bus 2802. Transmission media can also take the formof acoustic or light waves, such as those generated during radio-waveand infra-red data communications.

Various forms of media can be involved in carrying one or more sequencesof one or more software instructions to processor(s) 2804 for execution.For example, the software instructions can initially be carried on amagnetic disk or solid-state drive of a remote computer. The remotecomputer can load the software instructions into its dynamic memory andsend the software instructions over a telephone line using a modem. Amodem local to computing device 2800 can receive the data on thetelephone line and use an infra-red transmitter to convert the data toan infra-red signal. An infra-red detector can receive the data carriedin the infra-red signal and appropriate circuitry can place the data onbus 2802. Bus 2802 carries the data to main memory 2806, from whichprocessor(s) 2804 retrieves and executes the software instructions. Thesoftware instructions received by main memory 2806 can optionally bestored on storage device(s) 2810 either before or after execution byprocessor(s) 2804.

Computing device 2800 also can include one or more communicationinterface(s) 2818 coupled to bus 2802. A communication interface 2818provides a two-way data communication coupling to a wired or wirelessnetwork link 2820 that is connected to a local network 2822 (e.g.,Ethernet network, Wireless Local Area Network, cellular phone network,Bluetooth wireless network, or the like). Communication interface 2818sends and receives electrical, electromagnetic, or optical signals thatcarry digital data streams representing various types of information.For example, communication interface 2818 can be a wired networkinterface card, a wireless network interface card with an integratedradio antenna, or a modem (e.g., ISDN, DSL, or cable modem).

Network link(s) 2820 typically provide data communication through one ormore networks to other data devices. For example, a network link 2820can provide a connection through a local network 2822 to a host computer2824 or to data equipment operated by an Internet Service Provider (ISP)2826. ISP 2826 in turn provides data communication services through theworld wide packet data communication network now commonly referred to asthe “Internet” 2828. Local network(s) 2822 and Internet 2828 useelectrical, electromagnetic or optical signals that carry digital datastreams. The signals through the various networks and the signals onnetwork link(s) 2820 and through communication interface(s) 2818, whichcarry the digital data to and from computing device 2800, are exampleforms of transmission media.

Computing device 2800 can send messages and receive data, includingprogram code, through the network(s), network link(s) 2820 andcommunication interface(s) 2818. In the Internet example, a server 2830might transmit a requested code for an application program throughInternet 2828, ISP 2826, local network(s) 2822 and communicationinterface(s) 2818.

The received code can be executed by processor 2804 as it is received,and/or stored in storage device 2810, or other non-volatile storage forlater execution.

13.2 Basic Software System

FIG. 29 is a block diagram of a basic software system 2900 that can beemployed for controlling the operation of computing device 2800.Software system 2900 and its components, including their connections,relationships, and functions, is meant to be exemplary only, and notmeant to limit implementations of the example embodiment(s). Othersoftware systems suitable for implementing the example embodiment(s) canhave different components, including components with differentconnections, relationships, and functions.

Software system 2900 is provided for directing the operation ofcomputing device 2800. Software system 2900, which can be stored insystem memory (RAM) 2806 and on fixed storage (e.g., hard disk or flashmemory) 2810, includes a kernel or operating system (OS) 2910.

The OS 2910 manages low-level aspects of computer operation, includingmanaging execution of processes, memory allocation, file input andoutput (I/O), and device I/O. One or more application programs,represented as 2902A, 2902B, 2902C . . . 2902N, can be “loaded” (e.g.,transferred from fixed storage 2810 into memory 2806) for execution bythe system 2900. The applications or other software intended for use ondevice 2900 can also be stored as a set of downloadablecomputer-executable instructions, for example, for downloading andinstallation from an Internet location (e.g., a Web server, an appstore, or other online service).

Software system 2900 includes a graphical user interface (GUI) 2915, forreceiving user commands and data in a graphical (e.g., “point-and-click”or “touch gesture”) fashion. These inputs, in turn, can be acted upon bythe system 2900 in accordance with instructions from operating system2910 and/or application(s) 2902. The GUI 2915 also serves to display theresults of operation from the OS 2910 and application(s) 2902, whereuponthe user can supply additional inputs or terminate the session (e.g.,log off).

OS 2910 can execute directly on the bare hardware 2920 (e.g.,processor(s) 2804) of device 2800. Alternatively, a hypervisor orvirtual machine monitor (VMM) 2930 can be interposed between the barehardware 2920 and the OS 2910. In this configuration, VMM 2930 acts as asoftware “cushion” or virtualization layer between the OS 2910 and thebare hardware 2920 of the device 2800.

VMM 2930 instantiates and runs one or more virtual machine instances(“guest machines”). Each guest machine comprises a “guest” operatingsystem, such as OS 2910, and one or more applications, such asapplication(s) 2902, designed to execute on the guest operating system.The VMM 2930 presents the guest operating systems with a virtualoperating platform and manages the execution of the guest operatingsystems.

In some instances, the VMM 2930 can allow a guest operating system torun as if it is running on the bare hardware 2920 of device 2800directly. In these instances, the same version of the guest operatingsystem configured to execute on the bare hardware 2920 directly can alsoexecute on VMM 2930 without modification or reconfiguration. In otherwords, VMM 2930 can provide full hardware and CPU virtualization to aguest operating system in some instances.

In other instances, a guest operating system can be specially designedor configured to execute on VMM 2930 for efficiency. In these instances,the guest operating system is “aware” that it executes on a virtualmachine monitor. In other words, VMM 2930 can providepara-virtualization to a guest operating system in some instances.

The above-described basic computer hardware and software is presentedfor purpose of illustrating the basic underlying computer componentsthat can be employed for implementing the example embodiment(s). Theexample embodiment(s), however, are not necessarily limited to anyparticular computing environment or computing device configuration.Instead, the example embodiment(s) can be implemented in any type ofsystem architecture or processing environment that one skilled in theart, in light of this disclosure, would understand as capable ofsupporting the features and functions of the example embodiment(s)presented herein.

14.0 Extensions and Alternatives

In the foregoing specification, the example embodiment(s) of the presentinvention have been described with reference to numerous specificdetails. However, the details can vary from implementation toimplementation according to the requirements of the particular implementat hand. The example embodiment(s) are, accordingly, to be regarded inan illustrative rather than a restrictive sense.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A method for uploading a new content itemto a target content item block server, the method comprising: at acomputing device comprising one or more processors and storage mediastoring one or more computer programs executed by the one or moreprocessors to perform the method, performing operations comprising:detecting creation or modification of a content item, the creation ormodification of the content item performed using the computing device;determining a content item namespace to which the content item belongs,the content item namespace under management of a content managementservice; sending, to a server operated by the content managementservice, a request to commit the creation or modification of the contentitem to the content management service, the request to commit thecreation or modification of the content item identifying the contentitem namespace to which the content item belongs and identifying one ormore content item blocks of which the created or modified content itemis composed; in response to sending the request to commit the creationor modification of the content item to the content management service,receiving, from the server operated by the content management service,(a) a plurality of identifiers of a plurality of candidate block serversto which the content item namespace is assigned and (b) additionalinformation that indicates, for each candidate block server of theplurality of candidate block servers, a corresponding number of one ormore content item blocks, of the one or more content item blocks ofwhich the created or modified content item is composed, not alreadystored at the candidate block server; selecting, by the computing devicefrom among the plurality of candidate block servers, a particularcandidate block server as a target block server for the commit requestbased on the corresponding number of one or more content item blocks ofthe content item not already stored at the particular candidate blockserver; and uploading, to the particular candidate block server, thecorresponding number of one or more content item blocks not alreadystored at the particular candidate block server.
 2. The method of claim1, wherein the operations further comprise: after making the selection,sending, to the server, a notification representing the selection made,wherein the notification comprises an identifier of the target blockserver.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the operation of detecting thecontent item comprises an operation of receiving a notification from anoperating system of the computing device when a file in a file systemcorresponding to the content item is added or modified.
 4. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the operation of determining the content item namespaceto which the content item belongs is based on a file system path to thecontent item in a file system of the computing device.
 5. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the operation of selecting the particular candidateblock server as the target block server is based, at least in part, on anumber of content items blocks of the content item that are missing fromthe particular candidate block server being less than a number ofcontent item blocks of the content item that are missing from anotherblock server of the plurality of candidate block servers.
 6. The methodof claim 1, wherein the operation of selecting the particular candidateblock server as the target block server is further based, at least inpart, on network performance information reflecting historical contentitem block upload times to the particular candidate block server.
 7. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprising:determining a first list of one or more content item block hashes of oneor more content item blocks that constitute the content item; providingthe first list to the server; obtaining a second list from the server,the second list identifying one or more content item block hashes in thefirst list corresponding to one or more content item blocks that are notalready stored at each candidate block server.
 8. The method of claim 1,wherein each candidate block server is operated by the contentmanagement service.
 9. The method of claim 1, the operations furthercomprising resolving an identifier of the target block server to anetwork address of the target block server.
 10. The method of claim 1,wherein the computing device is communicatively coupled to theparticular candidate block server by a local area network and iscommunicatively coupled to a second candidate block server, of theplurality of candidate block servers, by a wide-area network.
 11. Acomputing device, comprising: one or more processors; and storage mediastoring one or more computer programs comprising instructions configuredfor: detecting creation or modification of a content item, the creationor modification of the content item performed using the computingdevice; determining a content item namespace to which the content itembelongs, the content item namespace under management of a contentmanagement service; sending, to a server operated by the contentmanagement service, a request to commit the creation or modification ofthe content item to the content management service, the request tocommit the creation or modification of the content item identifying thecontent item namespace to which the content item belongs and identifyingone or more content item blocks of which the created or modified contentitem is composed; in response to sending the request to commit thecreation or modification of the content item to the content managementservice, receiving, from the server operated by the content managementservice, (a) a plurality of identifiers of a plurality of candidateblock servers to which the content item namespace is assigned and (b)additional information that indicates, for each candidate block serverof the plurality of candidate block servers, a corresponding number ofone or more content item blocks, of the one or more content item blocksof which the created or modified content item is composed, not alreadystored at the candidate block server; selecting, by the computing devicefrom among the plurality of candidate block servers, a particularcandidate block server as a target block server for the commit requestbased on the corresponding number of one or more content item blocks ofthe content item not already stored at the particular candidate blockserver; and uploading, to the particular candidate block server, thecorresponding number of one or more content item blocks not alreadystored at the particular candidate block server.
 12. The computingdevice of claim 11, wherein the instructions are further configured for:after making the selection, sending, to the server, a notificationrepresenting the selection made, wherein the notification comprises anidentifier of the target block server.
 13. The computing device of claim11, wherein the instructions configured for detecting the content itemcomprise instructions configured for receiving a notification from anoperating system of the computing device when a file in a file systemcorresponding to the content item is added or modified.
 14. Thecomputing device of claim 11, wherein the instructions configured fordetermining the content item namespace to which the content item belongscomprise instructions configured for determining the content itemnamespace to which the content item belongs based on a file system pathto the content item in a file system of the computing device.
 15. Thecomputing device of claim 11, wherein the instructions configured forselecting the particular candidate block server as the target blockserver comprise instructions configured for selecting the particularcandidate block server as the target block server based, at least inpart, on a number of content items blocks of the content item that aremissing from the particular candidate block server being less than anumber of content item blocks of the content item that are missing fromanother block server of the plurality of candidate block servers. 16.The computing device of claim 11, wherein the instructions configuredfor selecting the particular candidate block server as the target blockserver comprise instructions configured for selecting the particularcandidate block server as the target block server further based, atleast in part, on network performance information reflecting historicalcontent item block upload times to the particular candidate blockserver.
 17. The computing device of claim 11, wherein the instructionsare further configured for: determining a first list of one or morecontent item block hashes of one or more content item blocks thatconstitute the content item; providing the first list to the server;obtaining a second list from the server, the second list identifying oneor more content item block hashes in the first list corresponding to oneor more content item blocks that are not already stored at eachcandidate block server.
 18. The computing device of claim 11, whereinthe target block server is operated by the content management service.19. The computing device of claim 11, the instructions furtherconfigured for resolving an identifier of the target block server to anetwork address of the target block server.